


Neither One Nor Another

by improbableZero



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Bending (Avatar), Bigotry & Prejudice, Brainwashing, Canon Disabled Character, Coming Out, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Cultural Differences, Culture Shock, Exile, F/F, Female Friendship, Gen, Holiday Traditions, Lars Gottlieb's A+ Parenting, M/M, NaNoWriMo, Pacific Rim characters in the ATLA universe, Requires Knowledge of Both Fandoms, Spirits & Ghosts, Tea, Trans Male Character, internalized ableism, selective mutism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-02-23 21:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 73,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2556737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/improbableZero/pseuds/improbableZero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Mako is the Avatar, Newt is banished, Hermann is also banished, Raleigh is not a firebender but his brother was, and Chuck is very angry about everything.</p><p>Pacific Rim fusion with Avatar: the Last Airbender. Ignores ATLA characters entirely, but is set around then in terms of where the ATLA world is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my NaNoWriMo project for 2014. Updates will be on Sundays. More tags will be added as they apply.

**Year 4342**

_Oh man._

_Ohhhhhhh man._

_Oh man, I fucked up._

_I fucked up so hard._

_On the negative ten to ten scale of "dude you have fucked up," I'm at, like, eight thousand._

_Shit._

_Uncle Ilia is gonna be so pissed._

Newt's panicked thought process continued along these lines for some time as he cowered before the monstrous pillar of water he had summoned. It didn't seem angry, just curious; it was staring at him (did it have eyes? Did spirits need eyes to stare? Newt was definitely getting the impression of staring, but he wasn't sure if that was reasonable) like he might stare at an interesting specimen of moss, perhaps one he'd never seen before.

It was true that among the Water Tribe, Newt stood out a bit. He had the right build, yeah, short and well-padded for optimal heat conservation, but his hair was too wild and fluffy and his eyes too green for him to look basically the same as any other member of the tribe. He couldn't imagine that such insignificant differences would make a difference to a Great Spirit,though; to it, all humans probably looked like ants.

That stare was really starting to freak Newt out, even more than he was already freaked out.

"Uh," he said. His voice cracked. He cleared his throat and tried again. "O great and mighty spirit of the Ocean, I have, uh, asked you to this mortal plane because, uh, uh, shit, um, I have a couple questions? About some, uh, stuff?"

_Way to sound confident, loser._

Newt mentally punched himself in the face, then pasted on a smile. It was twitching around the edges.

The great and mighty spirit of the Ocean continued to stare at him.

"I'm sorry," Newt whimpered, "please don't eat me, I promise I taste gross!"

More staring.

The spirit of the Ocean slowly tipped what might have been its head to one side, like a curious snow-raven.

Newt, who up until this point had been trying his very hardest not to cry from sheer terror, burst into tears and curled up even further into a ball.

\---

**Year 4342**

Once the tribe's shaman had politely banished the Ocean back to its much smaller form and the council had gathered to try to decide what to do with Newt this time, Uncle Ilia sat Newt down in the family room of their house for a Talk.

Newt was not looking forward to it. Talks with Uncle Ilia were always full of quiet disappointment and deep, painful amounts of _compassion_ and _understanding_ (Uncle Ilia) and bottomless wells of guilt and discomfort (Newt). Newt fidgeted as quietly as he could in his chair while Uncle Ilia geared himself up to speak.

Uncle Ilia began, "Now, Ness - "

"It's Newt," Newt muttered sullenly.

"- _Ness_ ," Uncle Ilia insisted, "you know I've done my best to raise you without your father or your mother here, and for the most part I think I've done a pretty decent job. You're a good kid and a strong waterbender. That's why I'm so disappointed in you right now: because I know you can do better than this. You don't have to resort to summoning Great Spirits for attention, or to show us how good of a waterbender you are - we love you for you, and we always will. But you have to know that there will be consequences for your actions, and although it will hurt us as much as it hurts you to carry them out, we will not hesitate to do so. You have to learn that this sort of thing just isn't okay, and we don't know what else to do to try to teach that to you. Do you understand?"

Newt nodded. He knew how this went. Uncle Ilia had a template for Talks, which he filled in with the appropriate breach of conduct every time Newt fucked up. Newt could probably recite along if he wanted Uncle Ilia to look even more disappointed.

"Thank you, Ness," said Uncle Ilia. "Please go to your room to think about your actions until the council has made a decision."

Newt nodded again and left to hide in his room for a while.

\---

**Year 4343**

Raleigh hefted his pack onto his shoulders and followed his brother Yancy out their family's front door for possibly the last time in his life. Now that the two of them were old enough to strike out on their own and lift the burden of caring for them from their mother's shoulders, they were doing so. They planned to travel north and east until they arrived in the capital city of Ba Sing Se, where they would look for work wherever they could find it.

Only a few steps from the door, a waist-high blur collided with Raleigh's legs and clung. "Raaaaaleeeeeeeeiiiighhhh," it wailed, "I don't want you to leave!"

Raleigh dropped his pack and scooped up his little sister Jasmine, who was only six but growing up so fast. "It's okay, Jazz, we'll come back some day," he reassured her. "It's not like we're leaving forever."

Yancy, hearing Jasmine's wailing, turned back, dropped his pack, and wrapped the two of him up in a hug. "Yeah, and besides, you'd get tired of our ugly mugs eventually if we stuck around. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, little sis." He ruffled Jasmine's hair, then Raleigh's, then stepped back. "C'mon, we should get going."

Jasmine clung determinedly to Raleigh's shoulders and brought out her very best pout. "But I don't want you to leave," she said again. "And it's dangerous out there. Mama said so."

Raleigh carefully pried her off and put her down. "We'll write you letters. You can practice your reading on them. And we'll take good care of each other, and come back when you're older. Right, Yance?"

Yancy nodded, picking up Jasmine for one last hug. "We promise." He put her down again and gave her a little nudge towards their home.

Jasmine kicked both of them in the shin, then trudged back inside. Raleigh and Yancy glanced at each other, then picked their packs back up and set off. If either of them were a little damp around the eyes, neither of them mentioned it.

\---

**Year 4343**

They'd thought they were hidden. They'd thought it was safe. Yancy needed the practice. It was so cold out.

None of that turned out to matter when an Earth Kingdom villager stumbled upon two young men huddled up together, one with his hands full of flames.

Raleigh had been able to escape, since the village had focused on Yancy as the more obvious firebender. He would have stayed and fought, but Yancy had yelled at him to go just before the villagers caught up to them.

_"Raleigh, listen to me! You have to let Mom and Jazz know - "_

The memory of Yancy's screams and the thuds of stones and fists on flesh still echoed in Raleigh's ears to the beat of his shoes on the road as he ran.

Raleigh knew that the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation were at war and had been so for almost a hundred years. He had supposed that this might lead to some tensions, but no one in their hometown in the colonies had hated their family for the mix of Earth and Fire that it was. If Yancy firebent, nobody cared. But Raleigh guessed it was different here, where hatred of the Fire Nation had burned hot and cruel for generations.

_"Raleigh, listen to me!"_

_"Raleigh, listen to me!"_

_"Raleigh, listen to me!"_

Raleigh kept running.

\---

**Year 4342**

Banishment.

That was what the council had decided.

Newt sat in shock, his hands tight on the edges of the chair he had been given to sit in to hear the council's decision.

Which was apparently banishment.

He was being banished.

Cast out.

Cut off.

Asked firmly to go away and never come back.

Newt was never going to see Uncle Ilia again, or anyone else he knew, or the Oasis, or anything else of what he'd known for almost all of his life. Sure, he had grandparents in the Earth Kingdom, but he didn't know them, they didn't know him, and in short, everybody he knew was here and he was going to have to leave forever.

The council would be giving him a small boat and a few weeks' worth of food - the punishment was exile, not death, although exile might be worse - and then shoving him off into the ocean pretty much as soon as they could. Which was the next morning.

As soon as Newt was able to, he fled to his room and curled up around his pillow to cry. He knew he should be packing, since he only had until the next morning to do so, but he had no energy for it.

Banished. From one little fuck-up.

Well, okay, from what the council said it was more from a _series_ of fuck-ups over the years, a pattern with no sign of stopping, dozens of incidents which all added up to indicate that Newt was not suitable as a member of Water Tribe society.

Mostly, Newt was focusing on the whole "banished" thing, and how that was a thing that applied to him now.

He was banished.

He was not coping well with it.

The next morning, Uncle Ilia packed Newt and his things into the boat the council had provided and saw him off.

Watching his home slowly fade away behind him, Newt once more thought of the aptness of the name he had chosen for himself: too much of Earth for Water, too much of Water for Earth.

Well. He'd see how the Earth Kingdom went.

\---

**Year 4338**

Mako had had enough. These dumb boys had picked on her and her brother for the last time.

Okay, so Chuck wasn't technically her brother by blood, but that didn't matter. He was annoying enough to be a brother, and they were basically family anyway, so, whatever, he was her brother and that wasn't the point. The point was that these dumb older boys kept picking on the two of them, and they were doing it right now, and Mako was just _really darn upset_ with them, and she was totally gonna scare them off with this cool earthbending move Chuck's dad had taught her.

The next thing Mako knew, she was exhausted and being held up by Chuck and the bullies were running away screaming.

"Are you okay, Mako? Mako, please talk to me, that was scary," Chuck was saying.

"I'm fine, Chuck," she answered. Because she was fine, just a little tired for no reason she could think of. "What was scary?" She picked herself up and frowned at the dust on her clothes.

Chuck stared at her. He looked shocked. "What do you mean, what was that? Don't you remember?"

"Remember what?" Mako asked.

Chuck grabbed her hand and tugged on it. "Come on, let's go talk to Dad and Mister Pentecost so I can explain it to all of you at once if you don't remember."

Mako followed him, confused and starting to be a little scared herself.

\---

**Year 4338**

Once Chuck had explained everything to Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen and Mako, Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen stepped aside a little ways to talk quietly to each other like adults sometimes did when they were worried about things.

As it turned out, they were moving. Across the entire Earth Kingdom.

Chuck threw a tantrum, because even though he was older, he was still a big baby and Mako was way more mature than him. She was already six, which meant she was practically a grown-up, and Mister Pentecost (he kept wanting her to call him Dad, but Mako didn't want to, because Mister Pentecost deserved the respect of a title and he'd only adopted her a few years ago so he wasn't really her Dad yet) trusted her to take care of herself and to be smart. Mako knew this because he always told her why he was doing things, even if the reason was silly. Like the reason for moving across the whole Earth Kingdom.

"I just want you to be safe," Mister Pentecost had explained.

Mako didn't think that was a good reason. Sure, okay, glowing from the eyeballs was weird, but she didn't see why it necessitated moving so far away, and she was pretty sure Chuck was exaggerating about her breathing fire. It wasn't like the boys she'd frightened would tell anybody - they were too scared. And neither she nor Chuck would tell anybody, because they weren't stupid (well, okay, maybe Chuck was stupid, but he wasn't _that_ stupid), and this was pretty clearly the sort of thing that you didn't tell people. Probably. Unless you wanted to scare them, or impress them, maybe.

But really, Mako wouldn't have told anyone, so even though it was really weird, she didn't understand why they had to move. Everyone their family knew was there.

She wasn't going to whine about it, though, because she was mature and responsible and Mister Pentecost needed her to be grown-up about this. The whining could be left to Chuck. He was good at whining and sulking and other baby things.

Mako stared over the side of the cart Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen had hired at the landscape passing by. She was _so bored_. Chuck was sleeping, and Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen were talking quietly between themselves at the front of the cart.

Another eight months of this. Gross.

\---

**Year 4341**

Even though Hermann was pretty sure that they didn't need to stop in port for supplies for another several weeks at least, Karla insisted on them docking for a week in this particular port "because we need a break, dearest brother, and you know it."

Fine, okay, Hermann could admit that, after a whole year, the search for the Avatar wasn't getting any easier. They had no idea where to start, which didn't help; the Earth Kingdom was incredibly secretive about where they were keeping the greatest weapon they had against the Fire Nation, which made strategic sense, but was still incredibly frustrating. Then there was the fact that the last Earth Kingdom Avatar should have been nearly a hundred years old by now, and although strong benders could live longer, and the Avatar longer still, Hermann had a feeling that they should have been looking in the Fire Nation, for the reborn Avatar. He supposed that his father and Dietrich were working on it, testing every baby born, but Hermann wanted to be the one to find the Avatar. And not just because his honor and his father's approval depended on it.

Well, yes, all right, mostly because his honor and his father's approval depended on it. But also for the glory of the Fire Nation, and so that they might finally win this endless war. Dietrich was such a lout, he would undoubtedly bumble the whole thing up irreparably given the chance.

Amidst the chaos of the crew disembarking from the pathetic, although inconspicuous, vessel Hermann's father had seen fit to grant him for this wild goose chase, Hermann leaned on the railing and dispassionately watched the waterfront of the small port village that his sister and the crew were pouring into. He did occasionally interact with the locals in the ports they docked at, to attempt to get further details regarding the few rumors he heard about the Avatar, but he didn't make a habit of socializing. He never had. Karla lectured him for it, but he found small talk and the vipers' nest of court pointless wastes of time. He much preferred the library, when possible, or his room when the library was unavailable, like now.

As Hermann abruptly recalled that he had not seen the palace library for over a year, and that he was not likely to see it for the foreseeable future, unless a miracle occurred, he was struck by a wave of homesickness. Not for his family, certainly; them he could take or leave. But for the high rock walls of the Caldera, the scent of aging paper in the library, the warmth and comfort of his room - yes, those he missed.

He reminded himself sternly that such sentimental behavior was hardly befitting a Prince of the Fire Nation, even a banished one such as himself. His father would be so disappointed if he knew.

More disappointed than he already was, anyway.

So lost in thought was Hermann that when Karla leaned on the railing next to him and spoke, he jumped, then kicked himself mentally for such obliviousness to his surroundings.

"So, dearest brother, you'll never guess what I heard," said Karla.

"That the fishing is poor this season?" Hermann guessed sarcastically. "Or, no, perhaps that rains of frogs are falling from the sky in Gaipan?"

Karla elbowed him. Hermann couldn't say for certain, since he wasn't looking at her, but she was most likely rolling her eyes. "No, you silly creature. The Avatar's been sighted."

Hermann's eyes widened and his head jerked around towards Karla. "Are you serious?" His interest in the conversation jolted upwards, and he hoped that she wasn't just saying that to get his attention.

Karla nodded. "I was chatting with one of the shopkeepers, and she was telling me about how about three years ago, her son's friend, this girl who one of the locals adopted about - three years before that, if I remember what she said right - so, the son and the friend were talking, and the friend must have taken offense to something the son said, or so the shopkeeper told me, and she can't imagine what it was, because as she was telling it her son is pretty much an angel - "

"Get to the point," Hermann grumbled.

Karla elbowed him again. "Calm down. I'm getting to it. Anyway, this friend - her eyes started glowing, or something, and apparently she breathed fire, and everyone in the village knew she was an earthbender. So."

Hermann stared at Karla, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. Was this really happening? Had they really found a lead? Was their quest actually possible?

"Did she say if the friend was still present in the village?" he asked, trying not to show just how excited he was.

Karla shrugged. "Apparently, the whole family packed up and moved. She didn't know where, and she didn't remember their names, but apparently that's the most interesting thing that's happened here for the past decade or so, so she was pretty eager to tell me about it, maybe to encourage us to stay longer and spend money here."

"It wouldn't surprise me if that _was_ the most interesting thing to happen here for the past decade or so," Hermann muttered dryly. He detested small towns. They were so suffocatingly wrapped up in their own unbelievably boring affairs that they never bothered to learn anything about the world outside of what they absolutely needed to know to fish or grow crops or herd koalasheep or whatever other animals they domesticated here in the Earth Kingdom. He cleared his throat. Practicalities. "We should question more villagers about the incident, see if it's just the ramblings of someone desperate for business or an actual lead, and if anyone knows something useful like their names or where they went or where they might be now. It's been three years, after all."

Karla smiled. "Getting excited, dearest brother? I suppose it is a lead. But I doubt that much will come of it. And I am certain you meant to say that I would question the villagers while you continued your…research, or whatever it is you do in your quarters by yourself all the time. After all, we both know which one of us is more skilled at retrieving information from people, and which one prefers books."

Hermann nodded, carefully keeping a straight face, not allowing his dropping mood to be visible in his expression. Even though he didn't like to be reminded of his poor social skills, he accepted them as fact, and thus usually allowed Karla to do the things that required interacting with other people. This was just another one of those things. There was nothing to be upset about. "Of course. I'll be in my cabin." He turned and left, being careful not to trip over the cane he was still getting used to after a year.


	2. Chapter 2

**Year 4343 -4344**

Although Yancy had asked Raleigh to return home, to tell their mother and their sister about what had happened, Raleigh found himself completely unable to do so. He couldn't face the thought of having to tell Jasmine to her face that her big brother Yancy was never coming home, and that he, Raleigh, just let it happen because he was useless. He sent a letter instead, and didn't give a return address.

Once he had done that, he set off for Ba Sing Se again. He didn't really know what else to do.

It was a long journey, made longer by the weeks Raleigh spent in one small town or another, doing any odd job that came to hand in exchange for food, a place to sleep for the night, once in a while some spare coin, or, on one occasion, a ride to the next town.

Most of the time, he was able to banish thoughts of his brother with exhaustion. If he had spent the day fixing someone's roof or shed or weeding someone's garden or helping bring in a harvest, all he had energy for was falling into bed and sleeping, not spending hours lying awake and crying. And it was easy to mistake tears for sweat in the heat of the day.

When, finally, Raleigh reached Ba Sing Se, he was overwhelmed by the sheer size. The villages and the occasional city he had passed through on his travels and his tiny hometown in the colonies had not even come close to approaching the size of Ba Sing Se. He knew, from looking at maps, that it covered almost a quarter of the continent, but knowing something like that and actually seeing the walls of the city from the ferry across Full Moon Bay were two very different things. And that was only the outer wall. The train ride through the Outer Ring, across miles and miles of farmlands within the city itself, only emphasized how absurdly huge the whole place was.

_At least it'll be easy to hide here_ , Raleigh thought. Nobody would look askance at a young man looking for work here in the big city; there were hundreds (or, oh spirits, maybe thousands, and that was _so many people_ ) of others just like him, and a slight angularity of feature would go entirely unnoticed. He was just glad he took after his mom.

A month's rent in one of the multitudes of cheap apartments that served as housing for most of the residents of the Lower Ring devoured most of the rest of the money Raleigh had managed to save up. Counting his remaining funds, he winced. He'd have to find a job fast if he wanted to be able to eat for more than a week.

His brother's last words echoed in his dreams that night.

\---

**Year 4342 -4343**

The Earth Kingdom wasn't frozen.

That was probably the oddest thing about it, Newt decided. That and the prevalence of greens and browns and yellows in clothing and landscape rather than blues and whites. It was freaking him out a little. Maybe more than a little.

Okay, yeah, the lack of snow was freaking him out a lot.

At least there wasn't _no_ snow. That would have been too weird. But Newt could actually see the dirt, in March, and it wasn't permafrost-hard.

The Water Tribe was his home, his family, and everything he knew. The Earth Kingdom was strange, unsettling, foreign. He knew that, technically, he had been born in the Earth Kingdom, and had spent the first year or so of his life there, but he didn't remember any of that, so it didn't count.

At least no one called him Ness. They looked at him weird when he told them his name was Newt, but they accepted that that was what he wanted to be called and, having no alternative, called him that. It made a nice change from home.

And the people were friendly, willing to barter food for healing. Sure, Newt was considered eccentric by the Tribe, but he was a damn good healer and he knew it. And nobody wanted to hurt a healer, especially a damn good one, _especially_ when he was probably the only waterbender their village had ever seen.

Newt didn't particularly have a destination he was aiming towards in his travels, just a desire to learn more about this strange land he had found himself in. He stayed in one village or another for a few weeks or months, got bored or got kicked out, moved on. He tried to talk to the local healers as much as possible, learn about the herbs they used for various illnesses and injuries, share what he knew of how human bodies worked and were built in return.

Along with local knowledge of medicinal herbs and other plants, he also picked up local legends and the weird things Earth Kingdom villagers did to appease the spirits. And they were definitely weird, although Newt guessed that without an ocean to give things up to, people had to make do. And salt and fire and thorns in spirit-mazes were the same the world over. Still. Earth Kingdom people were weird and their rituals were weird and the food was also weird. Newt didn't think he'd ever miss sea prunes, but faced with the prospect of never having them again, he found himself longing for them.

Newt would have aimed towards the only family he had left - his father's parents, who lived somewhere in the Earth Kingdom - if he'd known where they were. Uncle Ilia - or just Ilia now, Newt supposed, since they weren't family anymore, what with the whole banishment thing and all - hadn't known, had shrugged his shoulders and told Newt to ask around for the Geiszlers because surely people kept track of each other in the Earth Kingdom, they were all about records, right?

But nobody had heard of the Geiszlers.

"If it's records you're looking for, I'd go to Ba Sing Se," one baker said, chatty and helpful after Newt had healed the nasty-looking burn on her arm from where she'd accidentally brushed against one of her ovens. "They write everything down there. It's in the northeast corner of the kingdom, impossible to miss. Just tell anyone you're going to Ba Sing Se and they can point you right."

Newt nodded and thanked her. He had a destination now, at least, even if it was only a stop on the way to find out where he was actually headed.

\---

**Year 4341**

Karla returned to the ship with no news about the family's possible destination or current location, but with plenty of confirmation of the shopkeeper's story, along with names for the girl and her relatives.

"Her name is Mako, apparently," Karla said, perched on a crate of supplies with a cup of tea in her hand. "Has a brother named Chuck, although I couldn't get whether or not they were actually siblings or whether their parents were just really close friends. Didn't get a name for her father other than Pentecost, not sure if it was a first name or a last name, and no mention of a mother. The name I got for Chuck's father was Hansen, again, no idea if that's a first name or a last name, and again no mention of a mother."

Hermann sipped his own cup of tea and nodded along, taking mental note of all the information.

"And I met a few people who actually saw it happen, from their windows and stuff, and they confirmed the fire-breathing and the glowing eyes, and I met a couple of other people who agreed to having seen her earthbending," Karla continued. "I don't know of anyone other than the Avatar who can bend more than one element, especially not a six-year-old girl, and from the legends I know, the Avatar's eyes glow sometimes, and nothing other than a spirit glows like that. Except perhaps certain phosphorescent fungi, but this is a person, not a mushroom."

"Of course," Hermann said sarcastically, then took another drink of his tea. The Earth Kingdom was cold.

Karla smiled. "It's amusing how even the Avatar didn't firebend until she was six, when most of our Nation can at least spit sparks by the time they're four. Just goes to show the stifling influence of Earth, and how our Nation is clearly the superior, wouldn't you agree?"

Hermann nodded stiffly. He hadn't bent at all until he was almost nine, to the great shame of his family, and his siblings all enjoyed rubbing it in his face far too much. "Still, it's frustrating that we still don't know where to start looking next," he said, trying to change the subject.

"At least we know we're not chasing our own imaginations," said Karla. "And I would wager that we currently know more about the whereabouts of the Avatar than the Earth Kingdom's generals do, wouldn't you? Since this is clearly a new Avatar, being nine now rather than a hundred years old. So she must be Fire Nation, although then why she would be here rather than back home as she should be mystifies me…" She trailed off, staring into the steam wisping off her cup.

"Perhaps she was kidnapped," Hermann suggested. "Perhaps some Earth Kingdom spy, perhaps this Pentecost person, recognized her as the Avatar as an infant and stole her away to this speck of a town."

Karla frowned. "That's impossible, darling brother. You can't test for the Avatar spirit before a child is four or five, and according to the townsfolk the Avatar was three when she and her family arrived here."

Hermann nodded. "Of course, of course." Hermann couldn't believe he had been stupid enough to overlook such a simple thing. "Perhaps she was born in the colonies and fostered out to an Earth Kingdom family." Fostering was a common enough practice in the Fire Nation, after all, especially when parents didn't have the resources to care for a child or a child could be better served in a different family.

"Please. As if a family of our Nation would foster to the Earth Kingdom," Karla scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Even your kidnapping story made more sense."

"Well, how else could a child of Fire end up in the Earth Kingdom?" Hermann grumbled. Karla was right, of course, as she often was, but he didn't have to like it. "It's not as if anyone could desert and exile themselves, especially not a family safe at home with a baby or a toddler to take care of. Breaking loyalty in such a way would be insane."

"You'd have to have a particularly good reason," Karla said thoughtfully. "Threat of death is always a good motivator. Perhaps the Avatar's parents were on our father's list. But then they would have to know that soldiers would be after them, and that they would have no chance to keep their child safe even if they fled."

"What list?" Hermann asked warily. He had not heard of their father having a list of anything, although it would not surprise him if their father deigned to reveal something to Karla but not to Hermann. Hermann was a failure as a Fire Prince, after all, and the whole Fire Nation was glad that the Fire Lord had other options from which to select an heir.

Karla smiled. "Oh, he's never told you? Not surprising, I guess. Our dearest father has a list of people who might be…troublesome to our Nation. One little mistake on their part and off go the assassins to deal with the problem. Simple as that."

Hermann kept his expression blank. Of course their father had such a list. A good ruler kept track of possible trouble spots and eliminated them if necessary. That was how politics worked. "Oh, yes, of course. That list. I suppose that might be motivation to flee, since if one is on the list, one probably isn't loyal to the Fire Lord anyway…" He shook his head. The past wasn't relevant to their search. "In any case, perhaps we should move our search inland. They probably moved as far away as they could, in order to throw off pursuit."

"Whatever you say, darling brother," said Karla. "It's your search, after all."

\---

**Year 4344**

"Father, I understand you're trying to protect me, but Chuck and I will be perfectly safe in Ba Sing Se, and you and Mister Hansen will have a much easier time protecting yourselves and your clients if you aren't worried about us," Mako protested. She was tired of being constantly on the move, what with Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen's job protecting traveling merchant caravans and with Mako and Chuck having to come along because they couldn't stay at home by themselves. She knew she had family in Ba Sing Se that she and Chuck could stay with, and staying in one place and getting to go to the same school and know the same people for more than a week at a time before having to go back on the road would be really nice.

"Yeah, c'mon, Stacker, we're big kids now, we can take care of ourselves," Chuck added. "And didn't you say that moving around was the best bet for our safety? In a big city, nobody'll notice two more weird kids around."

"You could come and make sure we're safe whenever you'd like," Mako put in. She didn't want to lose contact with Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen completely, after all. She still loved them and wanted them to be part of her life.

Stacker sighed, one hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "You are both still children. Mako, you are only twelve. It would be incredibly irresponsible of me to allow you to go off on your own while you're so young."

"Didn't you say you had that sister in Ba Sing Se, though, Stacker?" Herc asked from where he was doing the washing-up for the dinner they'd just had. "What was her name, Luna? The kids could stay with her, sort of a fostering type deal. And not that I don't love you two, but not having you around would really make the whole caravan-guarding thing about twelve times easier. One less thing to be concerned about, and all."

"Thanks, Dad, really feeling the love here," Chuck grumbled.

Mako grinned. "See, Father? Mister Hansen agrees. You could write Aunt Luna a letter, see if she would be agreeable to having us around. We would be very helpful."

"If the two of you really want to travel to Ba Sing Se, I'm escorting you there," said Stacker. "And I'm making sure you would have a place to stay first, so that means waiting until your aunt's reply gets here."

Chuck and Mako high-fived.

"Don't get too excited," Stacker warned. "Both of you are doing dishes until we leave, and you had better be perfect little angels for your aunt, or it's not even a possibility."

"Of course, Father," said Mako, trying not to vibrate out of her seat in excitement.

"Right, yeah, sure thing," said Chuck. "Perfect little angel, that's me all the time."

Herc laughed. "Must be all the times I'm not watching, then, 'cause you're a real brat whenever I'm around."

"Daaaaaad," Chuck whined. "I can be an angel, really, I promise." He batted his eyelashes.

Mako burst out laughing, because Chuck was so ridiculous. She had never met a less angelic person in her life.

"Oi," Chuck grumbled, resting his chin on his arms folded on the kitchen table. "What is it, gang up on Chuck day?"

"That's every day," said Mako.

"Well, I see you're no angel either," said Chuck.

"Go practice your forms, kids," Herc said, breaking into the beginnings of an argument. "I'm sure both of you could use it. I'll make sure Stacker writes your Aunt Luna a letter."

Chuck and Mako high-fived again, then ran out the door to go hit each other with rocks until they wore themselves out. They were going to Ba Sing Se!

\---

**Year 4342**

This wasn't working.

Hermann knew it, Karla knew it, their whole crew knew it. Hermann's idea of how to find one now-ten-year-old girl in the whole of the Earth Kingdom was garbage.

Nobody in any of the towns they had swept through had even heard the name Pentecost, and while they had heard the name Hansen, they had heard it too many times for it to be useful. Likewise with the name Mako. It was all utterly, completely useless, and none of it was working, and they had been searching for the Avatar for two years now and they had had only that one spot of information, that one tantalizing glimpse of that which would bring back Hermann's lost honor and his father's lost favor, and which would bring the Fire Nation to glory beyond any of their imaginations.

Perhaps not beyond his father's imagination. The Fire Lord's goal was a lofty one, after all.

But the point was moot if they could not find the Avatar. And finding her seemed incredibly unlikely if their luck continued as it had.

Hermann breathed in slowly, his meditation candles flaring up. He breathed out at half the pace, the candles burning low.

He must not lose his temper. Tensions among his crew were high enough as it was without him setting a bad example by setting things on fire. He had to remain calm and clearheaded to direct them all to the best of his ability, which didn't seem to be much these days. At least Karla was helping keep morale up by insisting on breaks and occasional music or storytelling nights. Hermann was fairly certain that without them, the crew would have mutinied long ago. That didn't mean that they weren't annoying, but it did mean that he wasn't allowed to complain.

Not that he would have. Complaining was beneath his station. He was royalty. Royalty never complained, only acknowledged the reality of things or, if possible, made reality change to suit them. It was not possible or practical in this case, so Hermann had to put up with off-key tsungi horn and exaggerated stories. Just one more obstacle on his quest, one more thing for him to get past. It would all be worth it in the end, when his father welcomed him home with open arms, maybe smiled at him or told him he'd done well.

It would all be worth it in the end.

\---

**Year 434 4**

Newt groaned. No amount of delicious stew would ever be worth this horror. There was a reason he preferred working with humans, and this horror was the reason.

This horror, was, in a word, _manure_.

Or, less politely, _cowpig shit all over his boots_.

Okay, yeah, the worried ranchers were paying him well to take a look at their beasts, but still. Manure. All over his boots. Which, admittedly, were more meant for ice and snow than walking on dirt roads all day, but _still. Manure. All over his boots._

His life was _so hard_.

And these beasts weren't even sick. Obnoxiously friendly, yes, but all of them were perfectly healthy.

What a waste of time. And scraping the muck off his boots would be even more of a waste of time. An incredibly gross waste of time which he really, really, _really_ did not want to think about.

It had been two years since his exile, and he hardly ever crumpled over crying from homesickness anymore. He was adjusting to the lack of snow except during the winter, and to wearing mostly green, and to not being able to see the ocean every day, and to all those other weird things about the Earth Kingdom. There were a lot of weird things about the Earth Kingdom.

At least their spirit-appeasement methods seemed to work. In the time he'd spent here, he'd hardly ever had to deal with spirits. He'd learned some really interesting things from the few spirits he had met, though, including an odd healing technique he didn't know if he'd ever have occasion to use.

Newt sighed, dusted off his hands as best he could, and got up from the crouch he'd assumed to check the cow-pig's ears more thoroughly. Knowledge was knowledge and a job was a job, even if both looking over the herd and learning how to look at minds seemed pointless now.

At least he was only a few days' travel from Ba Sing Se. He didn't know what he would do once he was there, other than maybe try to track down where people kept records, but he'd heard there were amazing healers there, too. Maybe he could try to get an apprenticeship with one of them, build up his skills and knowledge base even more.

Yeah. He'd do that.

\---

**Year 4344**

Aunt Luna's letter had finally arrived, and she had agreed that she could use another few pairs of hands around the shop, especially small hands that could fit into small places to help to fix the delicate machinery she worked with so often, and, basically, Chuck and Mako were _absolutely_ going to Ba Sing Se.

Mako was _so excited_ . She had never been to a big city before, and from what she had heard, Ba Sing Se was _legendary_ and _enormous_ and really, really big. Oh man. Ohhh man. This was a real adventure, not like the icky adventure they went on when she was six and Chuck was seven, the time her eyes glowed and she breathed fire.

(She was still pretty sure Chuck was exaggerating about that.)

Mako and Chuck spent the whole night lying awake, chattering as quietly as they could to each other about all the cool things they would do in Ba Sing Se. They had so many awesome plans! They could even tell Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen about some of them!

At dawn, Stacker and Herc loaded two sleepy children into the wagon, along with boxes of their things, and Stacker flapped the ostrich-horse's reins.

Stacker would fret about Chuck and Mako, of course - what parent wouldn't? - but he trusted his sister to take good care of them, and an adventure like this for a few months or so would be good for them. Broaden their horizons, let them meet new people. Mako, especially, should have a chance to meet as many different types of people as possible, and ideally interact with groups of people from all four nations, what with her…talents.

Stacker didn't regret rescuing Mako, that one awful night in that place that used to be a village. He didn't regret taking her in, or raising her as his own even though it was easy to tell with a single glance that she was not his daughter by blood. He didn't regret protecting her from the truth of her own spirit, and from the consequences of the world's perception of that spirit. He knew well what had happened to the last person in the Earth Kingdom to bear that spirit, and he had no intention of letting it happen to his daughter.

The cart wheels were quiet on the road in the dawn light, as quiet as the four in the cart, two half-asleep and two preoccupied with thoughts of their children.


	3. Chapter 3

**Year 4343**

Three years.

Three spirits-damned _years_ they had been crawling all over the world looking for the Avatar, and two of those had been spent combing through every minuscule dot on the map of the Earth Kingdom.

Hermann was starting to really hate the color green.

There were currently two things preventing him from breaking down into a ball of frustrated tears.

The first was that it was dishonorable for a Prince of the Fire Nation to cry. True, he had already lost his honor, but that meant that he had to do everything he could to keep what shreds of honor he had left.

The second was that it would be especially dishonorable for a Prince of the Fire Nation to cry _in front of other people_. Karla would either laugh at him for being pathetic or wrap him up in her arms and smother him with comfort - about an equal chance - and Hermann wasn't sure which outcome would be worse.

He hadn't thought he would ever miss the awful, tiny little boat his father had seen fit to give him, which he had spent the first two years or so of his seemingly endless quest aboard, but here he was, wanting it back, because at least on the boat the illusion of privacy could be created by hiding in one's cabin. Here, in the _middle of nowhere_ , only flat, barren lands as far as the eye could see, broken only by the occasional cluster of bushes, there was nowhere to go to escape his sister's eyes. At least the small crew required to run the boat had returned to the Fire Nation with the damned vessel a few months ago.

He also hadn't thought that he would ever tire of Karla's company. Out of all his siblings, she was the most tolerable, and the least likely to push him into the courtyard fountain because he looked funny with lily-pads on his head and his hair falling soaked in his face. He was certainly glad that it wasn't Bastien along with him, or Dietrich; then again, both of them were suitable heirs to the throne, and couldn't be risked on a fool's errand around the world, unlike Hermann, who was extra, and useless, and doubly useless now that he had lost that fateful Agni-Kai.

But after three years in Karla's company, and two years in _only_ her company, the shine was really starting to wear off.

That, combined with a need to hide any firebending so that the locals would not be suspicious of them, and Hermann's temper had been at a low simmer for months now. Just one little thing, he was sure, one more little thing would be his limit, and he would explode and scream and rage and set things on fire in a manner _extremely_ unbefitting royalty, and then Karla would mock him for being a hothead and she would be _right_ , and Hermann really wanted to punch things and set things on fire.

But no, there was dry grass all around, and while in the Fire Nation that would have meant a grass fire was due any day now, from what Hermann had read of the Earth Kingdom, they didn't allow things, especially crop fields, to burn when they burned. They tried to keep things damp and continue from year to year with all the baggage of the past year's crop rather than starting afresh with a fire to clear out the debris. It mystified him. Other nations were so odd in their customs, so unlike what he was used to.

_Yes, it's almost as though the Fire Nation is not everything there is to the world_ , a voice in his head said sarcastically.

Hermann knew that voice: it was the voice of doubts, and he tried to banish it every time it appeared. There was no place for doubt in this quest - not doubt in himself, nor doubt in his father, and especially not doubt in the Fire Nation. Their goals were righteous and their aim glorious. They would conquer, and they would teach, and they would spread the skills and knowledge of their Nation across the world. Already, Hermann had visited many of their colonies along the shores of the Earth Kingdom in his search, and what he found there was magnificent. The conquered, working and living peacefully alongside their conquerers. What greater measure of success could there be than that?

None greater. Of course.

\---

**Year 4344**

Raleigh had wanted to get a job with some kind of mechanic, or maybe out in the farms inside the Outer Wall, but they had all looked at his arm, which had been broken sometime in his travels (he wasn't quite clear on when; it all blurred together in a haze of exhaustion and pushed-aside grief in his mind) and had never quite set right, and shook their heads. To work day in, day out, with the sheer quantities of _stuff_ that came through the mechanic shops and farms Raleigh applied to, required a lot more strength and dexterity than he really had in his left arm and hand.

It had been nearly a week, and he was getting desperate. He was running out of money, and he was running out of the non-perishable food he had saved from his travels, and he was running out of time. He had to find a job.

On his way home from another failed request for work, he spotted that golden light of hope: a WE'RE HIRING!! sign, cheerfully colored, with a big arrow pointing towards a door Raleigh would have otherwise walked right by without noticing.

There was light visible behind the door, so Raleigh went inside, jingling the bell on the door, and was instantly hit by a wave of nostalgia. It was an apothecary and spicer's, selling herbs both medicinal and flavorful, just like the one his mom had back home. He stood in the doorway, overcome by scent and emotion, and sniffled a little. Yeah, he thought he'd recognized the smell of those poppies. They'd always made him sneeze.

Yep. His eyes were definitely watering because of the poppies. He wiped his nose carefully on his sleeve.

"Can I help you, young man?"

Raleigh jumped at the voice, not having seen anyone in the shop, although it was so crowded with bins and racks and hanging strings he could hardly see two feet in front of him. He nudged through the racks, careful not to knock anything over, until he was able to see the shopkeeper's counter. "Oh, uh, you have a sign up in your window that you're hiring? Is that still the case, or…?"

The shopkeeper, who was a woman lounging on a stool with her feet propped up on the counter, grinned at him. "Nah, position's still open. Not really looking for help moving boxes, though. Can do that all on my own. You know anything about plants, kid? More importantly, you know anything about tea?"

Raleigh wanted to object that he wasn't a kid, but he kept his mouth shut on the basis that he did actually want a job and this person seemed a lot more likely to hire him than any of the other places he'd been trying at. "My mom's an herbalist and I used to help out in her store a lot. Got to know stuff pretty well. But, uh, what do you mean, tea? Is that somewhere else, or what? Because I don't see any tea here, just medicinal plants and stuff to put in food."

"Tea's the other half of the store," the shopkeeper explained. "My shop runs through the whole block, 's why it's so narrow. This half's herbs, other half's tea, got a couple sit-down tables too. Good eyes, catching that there wasn't any tea here. Where's your mom live?"

Raleigh hesitated. Most people eyed him suspiciously when they learned he was from the Fire Nation colonies, even though his mom was Earth Kingdom and her family had lived there since before it was a colony. "Some ways southwest of here." Accurate, but not specific enough to pin down the location as somewhere occupied by the Fire Nation.

"Everywhere's southwest of here. You gonna be a bit more specific?" The shopkeeper was sitting forward on her stool now, her feet, invisible behind the counter, probably hooked over one of the rungs.

Raleigh shrugged uncomfortably and named the closest Earth Kingdom village to where he lived. It wasn't really a lie, he figured; it was more specific, and he did live near there. And there was no war in Ba Sing Se, he'd learned - the colonies weren't talked about. He was just keeping himself safe.

In any case, the shopkeeper seemed to accept that answer, nodding thoughtfully. "All right, all right. So you're interested in a job here, uh - name?"

"Raleigh Becket. Yeah, if you're willing to hire me." Raleigh put on his best innocent and trustworthy face. He really needed a job, any job, and this job sounded like it would be nice, and the shopkeeper seemedtolerable to work with.

The shopkeeper continued to nod thoughtfully. "All right, all right, let's see how well you know your plants. I'm gonna ask you some questions, and you're gonna answer with what plants and stuff work for that. Got it?"

Raleigh nodded.

Ten nerve-wracking minutes later, he had a job and an order to come back the next day before dawn to help open the tea shop. He could hardly believe his luck.

\---

**Year 4344**

On the ferry ride over Full Moon Bay, Chuck spent the entire time being seasick and miserable against the railing, and Mako spent the entire time shivering and wrapped in Stacker's spare coat. Ba Sing Se was far north of anywhere Mako or Chuck had been before, and the wind blowing down from the North Pole was cold.

Mako had wanted to go to Ba Sing Se for a sense of stability, to be able to stay in one place with the same people for long enough to settle in. She wasn't sure why Chuck had wanted to come along, but he had been insistent that if Mako was going, he was going too. She didn't really get why - she could take care of herself, after all, and he was only a year older than her, so it wasn't like there was anything he could do that she couldn't do better.

Finally, on the second day of the ferry ride, the city's great wall came into view for the first time, and the cold didn't even matter any more. Mako stared, awed, and didn't stop staring until she and her family were inside Luna Pentecost's house above her mechanic's shop. Even then, Mako was still wide-eyed and quiet in Aunt Luna's living room as the adults talked in low tones amongst themselves in the kitchen.

Aunt Luna, as she insisted Chuck and Mako call her, looked a lot like her brother, but softer around the edges. She still had a lot of obvious muscle, and the same determined edge to her expression, but she was a little shorter and her left arm was made of metal, from halfway down her upper arm to the tips of her fingers. Mako had tried not to stare, since staring was rude, but Chuck had had no such compunctions and had goggled at Aunt Luna's arm shamelessly, even through Mako stepping pointedly on his foot.

Finally, the adults emerged from the kitchen. Mister Hansen scooped up Chuck for a hug, despite his complaints (Mako knew they were only for show. Chuck acted like he didn't need anyone, but he was as squishy inside as a small, affectionate owlkitten). Mister Pentecost bent down and ruffled Mako's hair.

"I'm so proud of you, my brave girl," he said. "I have faith you'll protect yourself and your brother well. Herc and I will come visit you this winter, for the Solstice."

Mako nodded, hesitated, then flung herself at her dad's broad chest for a hug. She didn't say anything, but she hoped that her intent was made clear. From Mister Pentecost's expression when they let go of each other, it was.

After all the goodbyes had been said, Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen left, and Mako and Chuck were on their own.

\---

**Year 4344**

The messenger hawk spiraled down from the sky and landed on Karla's shoulder. It pecked insistently at her hair until she opened the message-tube on its back and removed the scroll.

Hermann watched curiously as Karla carefully unrolled the delicate paper. It had been years since they'd received a messenger hawk, the Fire Lord not interested enough in the progress of the quest he had assigned his son to send messages inquiring after them.

"Oh, it's a letter from Bastien. Haven't heard from him in a while," said Karla. "It's dated a couple months ago. Hm, okay, 'Princess Karla, daughter of Fire Lord Lars and Fire Lady Catherine, great name of the Caldera, greetings.' Okay, pretty standard, good to know his etiquette lessons are going well. 'I am pleased to inform you that Dietrich, Mother, Father, and I are well, and I am doing well in my studies. As you know, we in the Capital have recently received exciting intelligence from Hermann; namely, that the Avatar is once more out in the world.' How did they only just hear about this? You sent a report home years ago, didn't you?"

Hermann shook his head, embarrassed, staring at his shoes. They were dusty. He should clean them. He hadn't had the time or the energy. "I wanted to wait until we had more news, or until we had the Avatar herself," he mumbled. "I sent a report off around half a year ago, when we were in Onsenzakura. I realized that some news was better than no news."

Karla sighed. "Honestly, Hermann. It's almost as though you don't wish to keep Father updated on your progress."

"There has been no progress to keep him updated on," Hermann snapped. He let out a little huff of breath and shook his head sharply. "My apologies. Continue reading?"

Karla paused, then nodded. "Very well. Glad to hear of your progress, pleased to inform you - wait, what? 'It is with the greatest pleasure that I inform you that our Father is calling you home, and is sending me out to help you on your way, since we know you have no method of water transportation, having sent your boat home for greater ease of travel on land. I will be delighted to rendezvous with you in Taku at the Summer Solstice to bring you safely home.' Spirits, that's only two months away, we'll have to move quickly if we want to be there on time. 'Glory to the Fire Lord and victory to our Nation,' and so on, message ends. Can you believe this, Hermann?"

Hermann could not. His Father rarely changed his mind about things, so a message like Bastien's seemed like a gift from the spirits: unexpected, exactly what one had desired, and extremely suspicious. "It seems impossible," he said, after a long pause of him trying to sort out the sudden wash of emotion that had crashed over him upon hearing the news. "Father never changes his mind. Why would he want me home now, after four years?"

"Perhaps the information regarding the Avatar's actuality?" said Karla. "Although why that would lead him to call us home, rather than exhort us to carry on now there is a ray of possibility, is a mystery."

"Still, regardless of his reasons, Father's orders dictate that we should be in Taku for the summer Solstice," said Hermann. "And Father's orders are not to be disobeyed."

Karla nodded. "We should move quickly if we want to be there on time."

"Of course," said Hermann. Never mind the little voice of doubt, loud and getting louder over the years away from home. His Father wanted him back. That should be enough to silence any remaining doubts.

Still, the sudden recall, with no explanation…

No. He would not question his Father. He would obey, and return, and be glad that his Father still loved him and wanted him back.

That was all he needed to know.

\---

**Year 4344**

Ba Sing Se, Newt thought, with the one bag of things he had held onto through the years of his exile slung over his shoulder, was loud. And smelly. And crowded. Sure, okay, the Wall was an awe-inspiring sight, and yeah, he guessed the sheer size would wow some people, but he was more overwhelmed than impressed. The North Pole had always had a sense of quiet to it, and most of the time it was too cold to be out and about so the streets were rarely crowded, and the snow kept the smell of almost everything down almost all the time. Even the villages and towns Newt had passed through on his travels hadn't been this insane.

As he walked through the streets, he was surprised by how few people looked oddly at the waterskin at his hip, the blue bracelets on his wrists that he had never managed to make himself give up. In most of the rest of the Earth Kingdom, the suspicious glaring at any outsider was compounded by the markers of the Water Tribe he still wore. But here, nobody gave him a second glance, although he didn't spot anyone else with even a dash of blue to their clothing.

Something he'd failed to consider was slowly, uneasily making itself known. How would he go about finding the other waterbenders, the rumored amazing healers, here? There were too many streets, too many people, for him to trust to wandering randomly until he bumped into one. There were probably records of where people lived, like the records he was hoping to find about his grandparents, but where were those kept? Were those even accessible to regular people?

Lost in his thoughts, he accidentally bumped into someone a lot taller and broader than he (although that first wasn't uncommon; Earth Kingdom men were huge, and the women not much smaller). "Hey, missy, watch where you're going," the stranger snarled, then turned to weave around him and continue on their way.

Newt sighed. All these considerations of waterbenders and healers and records and grandparents would have to be left until after he'd had something to eat and found a place to stay, and that was looking to be harder than he thought it might be. All the buildings looked very similar. He didn't even know if such things as inns existed in Ba Sing Se, and all the coin he'd had left had been spent on the passage price of the ferry.

He adjusted his bag on his shoulder. Time to see whether or not he could barter healing for food here, as well.

\---

**Year 4344**

Raleigh's first day in the herbalist's shop had been exhausting. Tamsin, the herbalist, had kept him on his feet all day, serving tea, putting together medicinal mixtures, and smiling politely at customers until he thought his face might split in two.

Still, he had a day's pay in his pocket, enough to buy dinner for himself with a little left over, and that was nothing to scoff at. This time yesterday, he had been wondering how he was going to feed himself and continue to pay rent on his apartment; now, he had steady employment with an excellently tolerable boss and some heavy lifting but not actually that much. He had never really thought that watching his mom mix herbs for her customers would be useful, but here he was with a job because of that knowledge. It was funny how things worked out; and by funny, he meant fortunate.

He would definitely be burning a stick of incense for Guanyin this evening in thanks for the mercy she had shown him in not allowing him to run out of money and starve, and another one for Agni in thanks for the luck that had led him down that particular road and had let him spot that particular door and sign. He thought he might still have some incense left over, but he might have burned it all while he was traveling. He didn't know.Like how he didn't know the exact circumstances surrounding his broken arm, this blurring of his memories during the almost-year he'd had without his brother was slightly concerning to him. It wasn't a mystery, though; everyone knew that grief made a haze of one's mind, and there was no cure for it but time.

Well, he could stop for incense on his way home. He had enough coin for it, after all, and if it turned out that he _did_ have some incense left over from home, then he would end up with extra, and that wasn't a bad thing. And, with his week's worth of wandering the neighborhood looking for employment, he knew precisely where to find incense around here.

Even with Yancy gone, things were really starting to look up.


	4. Chapter 4

**Year 4344**

Bastien met them, as planned, in Onsenzakura, in a Fire Navy ship with about twenty soldiers in tow. Hermann was surprised to see so many soldiers for a simple pickup mission, but Bastien explained that the waters were dangerousand that such precautions were necessary in these troubled times.

"You wouldn't know, since you've been on land so long," Bastien said. "But it's gotten much worse in the past year or so. I think the Water Tribe is finally beginning to take this war seriously, after a hundred years. It's almost a relief, or it would be if it weren't so annoying."

 _Well, at least he hasn't changed too much since I've been away,_ Hermann thought. It was odd, and a little jarring, to hear a Fire Nation accent after so long among Earth Kingdom peasants. Even odder was to hear a _familiar_ Fire Nation accent that wasn't Karla's. To Bastien, he nodded, accepting the explanation. It certainly seemed as if there were more warlike preparations in the Earth Kingdom lately. The war increasing in its scope and intensity over time made more sense than it remaining static. "Of course," he said pleasantly. "Is everything prepared for our departure, or was your intent to remain in harbor a while longer?"

Bastien shrugged. "I have no preference either way. Of course, I would like to be on our way as swiftly as possible, so as not to keep Father waiting too long, but we do need to refuel and resupply, and I understand that you may want to spend some time relaxing here before we return. We will depart tomorrow, at noon, if that is agreeable to both of you?"

Hermann nodded again. He had no intention of "relaxing" or any such nonsense. He merely wished to return home as swiftly as possible.

"Of course," said Karla, blank smile glued firmly to her face. She had always been good at appearing friendly and agreeable. Hermann envied that skill frequently - that is, whenever he saw it in action.

Bastien returned the smile. "I'll show you to where I'm staying and have rooms prepared for you as well. It's most pleasant to see you again, dearest sister, dearest brother. I've missed you."

"We have missed you as well, dearest brother," said Karla. "It's a relief that Father has finally seen sense about the absurd quest he gave Hermann. Find the Avatar and capture her, pssh, as if anyone could really do that."

Bastien chuckled. "I am certain he meant it as a brief lesson only. Frankly, I'm surprised it took him this long to recall you."

"Well, you know how Father is about changing his mind," said Karla. "Honestly, he's as stubborn as an earthbender sometimes. A trait Hermann has certainly inherited, haven't you, dearest brother?"

Hermann forced a quick smile and nodded, not exactly excited to be made part of this particular conversation. The delicate eggshells of court-style conversation had never appealed to him; in that way, his banishment had been almost a relief. And returning to court would certainly be unpleasant. He was much more agile with his cane now than he was three years ago, but he knew that all of the courtiers would be laughing behind their hands at him for it. Poor, banished, honorless prince, broken and even more useless than he was before.

Bastien and Karla continued their light, shallow conversation all the way to the inn, and Hermann did his best to block out all of it. He didn't precisely succeed, but he managed not to outright explode in anger, so he supposed that one was a success. The years of exile hadn't really been kind to his already-hair-trigger temper.

Oh well. At least he was going home now, and he presumed that meant Father would give him his honor back, although he didn't exactly feel as though he deserved it. He hadn't completed the task set out for him, after all.

He supposed his Father had his reasons. He usually did, after all, even if he deigned not to tell Hermann about them.

\---

**Year 4344**

A few days into Mako and Chuck's stay with Aunt Luna, she took them to a tea shop owned by a friend of hers after the mechanic's shop was closed for the night.

Well, okay, Aunt Luna said friend, but the way she and Miss Tamsin, who was the owner of the tea shop, looked at each other when they got there was just like the way Mister Hansen and Mister Pentecost looked at each other sometimes, when they thought Mako and Chuck weren't looking. And Miss Tamsin greeted Aunt Luna with a kiss to the cheek, although maybe that was just a thing grownups did.

Mako was pretty sure that adults were weird, and she wasn't sure she wanted to be one when she grew up.

The tea shop was mostly empty, it being later in the evening than most people wanted a cup of tea. There was only one other person there besides Miss Tamsin: a blond boy who looked like he was a little older than Chuck and Mako. He was wearing an apron and wiping tables down, so Mako guessed that he probably worked there.

"So these are your brother's kids, huh?" said Miss Tamsin, squinting at them. "Don't look much like him."

"I'm adopted," said Mako. Once she had found out the word for when the person who was your dad or your mom or both wasn't related to you by blood, she had borne it proudly. Mister Pentecost was the best dad ever, so there, and anyone who wanted to say he wasn't her dad was _wrong_ , and if there was a word to make everyone who said he wasn't her dad shut up then she was going to use that word. "And Chuck's Mister Hansen's son. Don't mind him if he gets grumpy, he's a jerk."

"I am not a jerk!" Chuck protested. "You're a jerk, you jerk!"

Mako shoved him. He shoved back. "You are so a jerk!" she said. "You're the jerkiest jerk to ever jerk!"

"Settle down, kids," said Aunt Luna. "I know you're tired, but that's not an excuse. Mako, don't antagonize your brother. Chuck, don't push your sister."

"Sorry, Aunt Luna," Chuck and Mako said in unison.

Aunt Luna ruffled their hair. "No big deal." To Miss Tamsin she said, "Yes, these two brats are Stacker's. He and Hercules travel for their job so much, they're hardly in one place for a few days at a time, and that's no way for a child to grow up, so they're staying with me."

Miss Tamsin nodded thoughtfully. "Right, yeah, makes sense. You guys wanna sit down for a bit? I'll bring you some tea, and you guys can meet my new minion if you wanna."

"You really shouldn't call them minions, Tamsin," said Aunt Luna, with the air of one who had had this particular argument many times before. "It disheartens them. That's why they quit so fast, you know."

Miss Tamsin rolled her eyes, also with the air of someone having this argument for the millionth time. "Yeah, yeah, whatever.Sit down already, you're making my feet hurt just looking at you."

Mako, Chuck, and Aunt Luna sat down, and Miss Tamsin went behind the counter to make tea.

She came back with five cups, a pot of tea, and the boy in the apron, although he'd taken the apron off now. "Luna, Mako, Chuck, this is Raleigh," said Miss Tamsin. "Showed up a few months ago and begged for a job. Didn't have the heart to turn him down, and his mom's an herbalist, so he knows a lot about plants. Raleigh, this is my friend Luna, and her niece Mako, and her nephew Chuck."

Raleigh waved and sat down at the table. Mako waved back. Chuck just scowled, because he was tired and cranky and probably needed a nap, although they hadn't had enforced nap-time since they were little kids.

Chuck, Mako thought, was really immature, so he definitely counted as a little kid, so he should get naps like other little kids. She was at least halfway certain that a nap every once in a while would improve his grumpiness by a lot. She knew she got cranky sometimes, if she hadn't had enough sleep the night before.

Miss Tamsin sat down and poured the tea. Everybody took a cup and sipped gingerly at it, because it was still hot and none of them wanted to burn their tongues. Chuck made a face - he must have burned his tongue. That or he didn't like it and was too rude to pretend otherwise.

"So, how have you been, Tamsin?" Aunt Luna asked. "Is business going well?"

Miss Tamsin nodded. "Pretty steady, yeah. That's why I hired Raleigh - needed someone else to keep up with the customers, and I could afford to pay him."

"That's good to hear," said Aunt Luna. "I'm glad things are working out well for you."

"Me too," said Miss Tamsin. "What about you?"

As Aunt Luna and Miss Tamsin chatted, Chuck stared suspiciously at Raleigh. "What's wrong with your arm?" he blurted out finally.

Mako elbowed him. Didn't he know that was rude? He was making a bad impression on this new person. "Chuck!" she hissed.

Raleigh frowned back at Chuck. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because I'm curious," said Chuck.

"Because he's a rude jerk who likes to poke his nose in everything that's not his business," said Mako at the same time.

Raleigh snorted, then choked on his tea and broke out coughing.

Chuck scowled. "Shut up and answer my question."

"I can't do both," said Raleigh. "You have to pick one."

Chuck paused. "The question," he said eventually. "What's up with your arm? It looks weird."

Raleigh explained how he had broken his arm, and there hadn't been a good healer around, so his arm hadn't healed right. "That's why I'm working here, rather than somewhere out in the Outer Ring."

"Ooh, are you talking about arm stories?" said Miss Tamsin, leaning in from her conversation with Aunt Luna. "Luna has the best arm story. Luna, tell your arm story."

Aunt Luna sighed. "Is this really the time, Tamsin? The kids just got here. They don't want to hear extremely violent and bloody stories. Besides, you know how it is, with the thing that no one speaks of here."

Miss Tamsin and Aunt Luna exchanged glances, and then Miss Tamsin looked down.

"I wanna hear extremely violent and bloody stories," Chuck said into the silence that followed.

Mako elbowed him again, because he kept being a jerk. Raleigh snorted again, but he didn't choke on his tea this time.

Miss Tamsin nodded. "Right. Of course."

"What's the thing no one speaks of here?" asked Raleigh.

"Well, of course they're not gonna tell you, they don't speak of it," Chuck said loftily. "Dummy."

Mako elbowed him harder. He was clearly not getting the point.

"Mako, stop it, that's mean," said Chuck.

"You're mean," said Mako.

"Kids," said Aunt Luna. She sighed. "I can't tell you the story about my arm here and now. Perhaps some day in the future, outside of these walls."

Mako nodded solemnly. She understood. There were some things that you just didn't talk about, because it wasn't safe. She was really curious about the story of Aunt Luna's arm, but she'd held her peace so far, and she could hold it until Aunt Luna was able to say it.

Chuck pouted.Raleigh elbowed him this time.

Mako giggled.

\---

**Year 4344**

As it turned out, you needed a license to heal people in Ba Sing Se. Newt hadn't known this. The City Guard hadn't accepted that as an excuse.

So, well, okay, now he had a place to stay for the night, Newt guessed. Even if it was a bit cold, and they'd taken his waterskin away from him (well, duh, it _was_ a weapon), and he still didn't know what he was going to do to earn his keep here in the big, unfamiliar city.

Get a license, he supposed. But that continued to raise the question of how to find the healers and waterbenders (and maybe the people where that overlapped) here. Maybe he'd ask the Guard Commander in the morning.

He really hoped they'd feed him breakfast, although he supposed it wasn't likely. He hadn't had anything to eat since - lunch yesterday? Had he had lunch yesterday? No, wait, he remembered, the food on the ferry had been shitty, and that had been two days, and he'd gotten on the ferry three mornings ago, so, since breakfast three days ago?

Wait, no, he'd had lunch that day. He'd spent the last of his coin on lunch that day, actually, because as it turned out, everything in Ba Sing Se was insanely expensive if you wanted it to be something that wouldn't kill you.

So he'd eaten today. But that hadn't been very much food, and that been a while ago, and his stomach was making unhappy whining sounds.

Newt curled up on the thin pad on the floor of the holding cell and tried to sleep. If he slept, at least he wouldn't be acutely conscious of the cold and the dryness and his complaining stomach. He'd ask the Guards about the healing license and finding other healers tomorrow, probably.

He spent the rest of the night lying awake and uncomfortable on the floor, occasionally changing position to relieve the pressure on one joint or another.

\---

**Year 4344**

On his way home, Raleigh felt like he was walking on air. That girl, Mako, who had come in with Tamsin's friend? _Wow_. Raleigh was pretty sure he was in love. Her dark eyes, her giggle when he elbowed her brother, that strange sense about her, like she was somebody important - he was drawn to her, a spidermoth to a flame. Just, wow.

Her brother Chuck was kind of an asshole, though. Raleigh hoped Chuck wouldn't get in the way too much if Raleigh tried to woo Mako. That would be really unfortunate, and he was pretty sure Mako wouldn't be laughing if he punched her brother for real instead of for fun. That wouldn't be nice of him at all.

He made dinner, just rice and vegetables with the little bit of meat he'd bought that day.He was getting better at cooking, and hardly ever burned the rice anymore. Watching Dad and Yancy in the kitchen - they'd been the ones to have the most interest in food and the preparing thereof - appeared to have paid off, although he still couldn't get the spicing right for the flaming noodles. He couldn't exactly ask Dad or Yancy, either, since neither of them was around anymore. Oh well, he'd figure it out, or he wouldn't. Maybe Mom or Jasmine would know, although the thought of talking to them face-to-face still made Raleigh feel sick. Maybe he could send them another letter, now that he was actually planning on staying in one place longer than a week.

Maybe not just yet, though. He'd only been in Ba Sing Se two months; he should give himself time to settle in more thoroughly. He wasn't sure what time period constituted thoroughly, but it was more time than he'd spent in the city.

He drifted off to sleep that night thinking of Mako.

\---

**Year 4344**

_So Father did have his reasons_ , Hermann thought blankly. They had cast off from Onsenzakura a few days back and, now sure that now they could not leave, Bastien had finally explained to them exactly what was going on.

The Fire Lord only wanted Hermann and Karla back in order to imprison them and send Bastien out to catch the Avatar instead, since Bastien had a better chance of doing so and the Fire Lord didn't want Hermann and Karla getting in the way and interfering with Bastien's chances of success, however unintentionally. There would be no returned honor, no returned favor; only a cold, sunless metal box for both Hermann, the failure, and Karla, who had sided with him and thus proven herself a failure as well, past the failure her lack of firebending ability had already demonstrated.

The Fire Lord's reasoning made sense, of course. Bastien was the superior tactician and firebender, and far more likely to have a chance of actually subduing the Avatar long enough to return her to the Fire Nation. And of course he hadn't changed his mind about Hermann's banishment; the Fire Lord was notorious for rarely changing his mind about anything, especially things having to do with his family and his nation.

Hermann also understood why Bastien had not told them the truth. Would he and Karla have gotten on the boat if they knew the circumstances under which they would return to the Fire Nation?

Thinking about that question made Hermann's head hurt. Because of course he would have. He was loyal to his Father and obeyed the orders he was given.

But on the other hand, he would rather not spend the rest of his days in a small, dark box. The thought of a month, perhaps even two weeks without sunlight made him feel ill just thinking about it. Firebenders went mad that way - everybody knew that - and the mere idea of losing his mind, the only place he had that no one else could get into or see or hurt, would have scared him if such base responses as fear weren't beneath a Prince of the Fire Nation. It might not be so bad for Karla, since she wasn't a firebender and didn't need the sun the way the rest of their family did, but Hermann was sure that she wouldn't enjoy being enclosed in such a manner. Nobody would. That was the purpose of prison; it was meant to be a punishment.

But would he have deliberately disobeyed his Father's orders to avoid that fate? Therein lay the question; the one that, perhaps, his life might hinge on. Hermann was loyal, completely and absolutely, but…

 _Loyalty never demands suicide._ A line from a text he had found, many years ago, in a forgotten corner of the palace library. It had seemed to be from centuries in the past, and most of it was rendered indecipherable from age, dust, and the small creatures which inhabited libraries and ate books. That one phrase had stood out in Hermann's mind then, however, and it came to mind now.

It was false, of course. It was expected that you would be willing to die for your lord. As Hermann was. Of course.

But death and imprisonment unto madness were two very different things. At least death meant an end; it meant that you could rest, and no longer consider the worries of the human world. Madness, however, was never-ending, or so the writings said.

Hermann tried to shove the doubts from his mind, but they refused to go. All he could think of was if he would willingly go into madness rather than disobey his Father, his Fire Lord, or not.

He wasn't sure which answer would be worse.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Year 4344**

_Well, at least getting picked up by the Guard for unlicensed healing had this upside_ , thought Newt, attempting to read the directions he'd been given while simultaneously navigating around fellow passers-by. Personal space. It was a thing. And most Earth Kingdom people seemed a lot less willing to get up in someone's personal space than the Water Tribe. Well, okay, people had no problem looming at someone for intimidation purposes, but casually bumping shoulders, hugging, or even a friendly pat on the shoulder seemed totally off-limits here. It, like literally everything else in the Earth Kingdom, was weird.

 _I've been here two years_ , thought Newt. _You would think I would stop thinking that things that are probably normal here are weird._

Apparently that was not the case. The fact that not everybody in the world went by the same customs and norms that the Water Tribe did kept surprising him, oddly.

Well, that made every day a learning experience, at least. And he'd never be bored, and hopefully never get complacent. In his humble opinion, there was basically nothing worse than boredom and complacency. Boredom had been what had gotten him banished, after all. That, and the fifty-foot-tall water monster, he guessed. But the boredom had led to the fifty-foot-tall water monster, so.

Newt paused in front of the building his directions had led him to and examined the little name card thingy that all the buildings in Ba Sing Se had on them that was on this particular building in the dawn light. Yeah, looked like the one he wanted. He knocked.

After a long pause, the door slid open.

"What," said the person who had opened the door. She was a little taller than Newt, with her dark hair cropped short, presumably to keep it out of her sharp blue eyes.

Newt's breath caught. Blue eyes. He hadn't seen blue eyes in two years. Here was someone of his Tribe. Even if she wasn't necessarily from the Northern Tribe, she was still Water, and a familiar type of face after so long almost made him want to break down crying in relief.

He took a deep breath. No. He could cry later. Right now he had to impress this person, and get her to take him on as an apprentice so he could learn awesome healing stuff and hopefully not get arrested again. He smiled, turning up the cute/charm factor. He thought he was pretty good at that. "Hi, are you Caitlin Lightcap?"

"Yeah, that's me. Who wants to know?"

"Newt Geiszler." Newt bowed politely, like he would at home, then widened his smile. "I was told you were one of the best waterbending healers in the city."

Lightcap rolled her eyes. "More like one of the only. Why do you ask? You got some horrible injury or deadly illness or whatever, and only a waterbender of the highest caliber can fix your precious little booboo?"

Newt shook his head. "No, I want to learn from you."

Lightcap squinted. "Earthbenders ain't healers, kiddo, and there's only so much I can teach someone who's not a bending healer."

Another shake of the head. "No, no, I'm Water Tribe like you are. I'm a Northern waterbender, and I learned some healing there, but my training was kinda cut short so I didn't learn as much as I wanted, and I want to learn more." Newt, realizing he was babbling a little, shut up. He wanted to impress her. That meant not babbling like an idiot.

Lightcap raised her eyebrows, clearly not impressed. "Only women learn healing up North. Forgive me if I find your story a little hard to believe, with your green eyes and your Earth Kingdom clothes and your whole not-being-a-woman thing."

Newt opened his mouth to talk, to protest, then closed it again. Why explain himself when he could just show her the proof that he was a healing waterbender? He uncapped his waterskin, drew the water out, demonstrated that he had a bruise on his arm from he didn't remember where or when, then passed the water over the bruise to heal it.

Lightcap's eyebrows went even higher. "You're really from the Northern Tribe?"

Newt nodded. "Lived there until I was sixteen." No need to mention the precise circumstances of his exile; that'd just make Lightcap think poorly of him.

Lightcap frowned. "I'm starting to get the feeling we shouldn't be having this conversation out on the street. Rude, you know, and I've got a patient I should be tending to. Why don't you come in and sit tight for a bit, and then we can talk?"

Newt nodded eagerly and followed Lightcap inside. His plan was going perfectly. If everything else went well, he'd have an apprenticeship by nightfall and the apprentice's license to go with it, and maybe he could pull out the puppy eyes to get Lightcap to let him sleep on her floor or something.

\---

**Year 4344**

As far as Tamsin knew, Raleigh was living with his family, and as far as Raleigh was concerned it could stay that way. He didn't need her pity, or anyone else's, which telling them he was on his own would definitely inspire. He could handle being on his own just fine, even if he did really miss Mom and Jasmine (and Yancy, but he wasn't thinking about that, he wasn't, he wasn't, he wasn't) and even if it was sometimes really hard because nobody would take him seriously even if he did look a little older than he was.

Still. He could handle it. He was pretty grown-up, and if he was old enough by Dad's Nation's rules for an honor duel, which he was, then he was old enough to take care of himself.

It didn't hurt that he had people near his own age to be around now, either. Chuck was pretty gross, but having someone to spar with was cool even if Chuck _did_ sometimes cheat by earthbending, and Mako was. Well. Mako was basically completely awesome in every imaginable way. She was really smart, and a really good mechanic, and she was so cool Raleigh could hardly believe she was real. She also knew how to fight, and she'd fought really well when she and Raleigh had sparred, a lot better than him, even though apparently most Earth Kingdom girls didn't learn, which Raleigh thought was just weird. Mom and Jasmine knew how to fight. There were women in Dad's unit, a lot of whom he'd met, and they were just as scary as the men in Dad's unit.

But apparently Mako's parents had also thought that particular tradition of the Earth Kingdom's was weird and silly, because they'd taught her combat both with and without her earthbending, which was also really good. Raleigh was totally in awe of how fast Mako was and how precise her movements were.

He was talking with her after her Aunt Luna's mechanic's shop had closed for the day and she was having tea in Tamsin's shop with her brother, and the three of them were talking about how they'd all ended up in Ba Sing Se. Raleigh was cagey with his story, since it related directly to him being on his own, which he still didn't want Tamsin to know about, but Mako didn't ask for more details. She also didn't seem excited to talk about how she and her brother ended up with their aunt rather than with their parents, and Raleigh didn't want to pry, since he figured that maybe they were war orphans or something, but Chuck did the prying for him.

"Go on, Mako," said Chuck. "It's an awesome story, you should definitely tell it." He turned to Raleigh. "It's a totally awesome story."

Mako rolled her eyes and hid a smile behind a hand. "It's not that awesome."

"Is so," said Chuck. "She talked her dad and my dad into letting us come here and stay with Aunt Luna."

"I was just worried about them having too many things to worry about," Mako protested. "And I was tired of having to get to know new people every three weeks."

"Our dads protect merchant caravans," Chuck explained, "so we travel a lot, and while we were traveling, our dads had to worry about the merchants and about us, 'cause I was little and Mako was even littler - ow! Mako, that was mean!"

"You're a brat," said Mako, who had pretty clearly just stepped on her brother's foot under the table.

"Yeah, well, you _are_ littler 'n me," said Chuck . "You're shorter _and_ you're younger, so you're double littler."

"She is fiercer, though," said Raleigh, who thought that some peacekeeping might be in order. "And a whole lot better at earthbending."

"Yeah, well, that's 'cause she's the - ow! Mako!"

Mako narrowed her eyes at Chuck. "Remember what Mister Pentecost said about talking about that?"

"You can just call him Dad, you know, it's not like I won't know who you're talking about," Chuck grumbled. Mako stepped on his foot a third time; Raleigh heard the quiet thud. "Ow, spirits, you're violent. No wonder though, since you're - ow!"

"You are terrible at holding your tongue about important secrets," Mako said, her tone clipped. "So you should just stop talking."

Raleigh snickered.

"Go away," Chuck grumbled. "I hate both of you."

"No you don't," said Mako. "But next time you want to try to blurt something like that out, please remember what Mister Pentecost said on the subject, and remember where we are and what might happen if you blurted either of those things out, and reconsider, or your toes and ribs will become very bruised." Her tone said she was completely serious.

Raleigh was so impressed. Mako was pretty short, and didn't look especially threatening most of the time, except when she did, like right now. Just, wow. _Wow_. Mako was so cool.

Chuck scowled, then looked down at the table. "Sorry, Mako. Forgot."

"It's okay," said Mako. "Just remember next time."

Chuck nodded.

"I'll go make another pot of tea," Raleigh said quickly, standing and fleeing back to the kitchen. He couldn't help but be curious about those things Chuck had almost said. What were they? What was he going to say Mako was? What was it that would happen if he did? Evidently it was something bad, given Mako's reaction to him almost saying it. But what was it?

Whatever it was, Mako didn't want him to know just yet, so he wouldn't ask. If she wanted to tell him, she'd tell him, and unless she did, it wasn't his place to know. He had to be patient. He was good at that.

\---

**Year 4344**

On their way back to Aunt Luna's place from Miss Tamsin's tea shop, Chuck was, for once, quiet. Mako supposed he was thinking about what he'd almost said, and how disastrous it almost could have been.

Mako didn't want to think about it. She wasn't scared, but Dad had warned her about what had happened to the last person to be born with her talents, and what might happen if either the Dai Li or the Fire Nation found her.

"I don't want to frighten you, Mako," he'd said. "But you must be careful."

He'd given the same lecture to Chuck, but apparently it hadn't stuck as well for him, because here he was almost blurting it all out and ruining everything. She didn't hold a grudge against him for it, because Chuck didn't always think before he acted or spoke, but she was pretty upset about it, so she wasn't talking to him for a while.

Probably just until tomorrow. They did need to talk to work together well in Aunt Luna's shop, and once he noticed she wasn't talking to him he'd probably bug her without end until she stopped not talking to him. He was annoying like that.

About halfway home, Chuck started talking again, and Mako didn't respond to a word he said. He fell silent after a while, looking even more downcast than he had before.

Mako guessed the whole not talking to him thing was working, then.

\---

**Year 4344**

After Lightcap was finished with her patient, a train-driver who'd strained a muscle in his leg, she invited Newt into her workroom and they sat down with a pot of tea to talk. Newt told her about how he'd left the North, leaving out the fifty-foot-tall water monster bit and the exile bit, because they weren't really that important, right? And it wasn't like there was anyone who would tell her about it if he didn't, so he could leave it out. The lie of omission still made him uncomfortable, but he really wanted her to take him on as an apprentice, and telling her about that would almost definitely sway her towards not doing that, so he told himself that it was okay. He also managed to avoid mentioning why he knew healing waterbending as opposed to combat waterbending. He didn't want to give Lightcap a reason to call him Ness; he'd really been enjoying not having anyone who knew him by that name. Best part of being exiled, probably.

Lightcap still seemed suspicious after his story, but once she'd quizzed him up one side and down the other about bending methodology, treatments that didn't involve bending, and how to judge whether or not anything could be done for someone, she appeared less so.

"Trial basis," she said finally. "You'll shadow me today and tomorrow, and then I'll decide whether I want to take you on on a more permanent basis."

"Thank you," Newt said, relieved.That was one of his worries down. Now he just had to sort out a place to stay for tonight, and find something to eat. "I really appreciate that, Master Lightcap." He bowed, as much as his sitting position would allow him to.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Lightcap stood, taking the pot of tea and her cup with her. "Come on, I have to show you where everything is before more patients get here. It may be early yet, but it won't be for long, and most of them show up pretty early, since they have work. You better be ready for hard work, kiddo, 'cause we work from before dawn until after dusk here."

Newt nodded, standing with his empty cup as well. Hard work? No big deal. He'd worked hard before, and he could do it again. He was just glad she'd agreed to take him on.

\---

**Year 4344**

Hermann paced back and forth restlessly in the small cabin he and Karla had been assigned to, his cane thumping on the floor between footsteps. The metal door was securely locked, with a bar in place on the outside of the door, and there was nothing inside besides the two tiny bunks. There was nothing to do but pace; no space to practice forms, and no candles to meditate with, and nothing to read. Hermann supposed he could have chatted with Karla, but she didn't seem inclined towards conversation.

Soon, even pacing would be off-limits; his leg was starting to protest the continued use, and especially the tight turns the small space required, sending sharp twinges and bolts of pain up from his knee to his hip with every step. He couldn't _not_ move, though, with the conundrum boiling away in his head.

His Father's orders, or his mind and his sister's freedom? They were only a few weeks' travel away from the Caldera, and the dilemma became ever more urgent the more days passed and the closer they got.

And Hermann knew the decision didn't just affect him, and he really should be talking to Karla about it, but he wasn't sure which he wanted yet, and he wanted to be _sure_ before he tried to talk it out with Karla.The indecision was worse than the consequences of either choice might have been. He was used to knowing what he wanted, if not always how to get it.

His leg shrieked at him, demanding a respite, and he sat down heavily on his bunk, kneading at the scarred flesh of his thigh.

"Karla," he said, finally giving up on trying to puzzle it out himself. "I need your help."

Karla, who had been lying back on her bunk and staring blankly at the ceiling, rolled to face him. "Oh? So you've finally admitted it, then. What do you want?"

Hermann hesitated, putting the words together in his head. He wanted to make sure that whatever he said, he said right. He'd only get one chance. "Are Father's decisions always what's best?"

Karla raised her eyebrows. "Five years chasing a rumor, and you only ask this _now_?"

Hermann shrugged. "We had proof she was real. I knew it could be done, or Father would not have asked it of me. I'm not talking about the quest, though. I'm talking about…well. The reason we're on this ship, as opposed to wandering the Earth Kingdom." He couldn't quite say it aloud.

"You mean Father's intent to lock us up in tiny metal boxes for the rest of our lives?" Karla said sarcastically. "Us, his own children?"

Hermann sighed, his shoulders slumping. "We're failures, Karla, as you know well. You're not even a firebender, and I…" He gestured to his leg, which was currently twitching irregularly. "He is well within his right as Fire Lord to…dismiss us."

"Sounds like you think his decisions _are_ always what's best," said Karla, her voice bitter.

Hermann shook his head, staring at the floor. "I don't know. I…" He paused, not wanting to say it. It was shameful, to admit such weakness, even to a sister, a member of one's own clan. Finally, he said, "I don't want to be locked up like that. I don't want to…lose the sun like that. But it's Father's orders - how could I disobey?"

"Hermann, look at me," said Karla.

He looked.

"When loyalty rests with one not worthy of it - " she began.

" - honor demands that it be taken back," Hermann finished. "I know."

Either option was terrifying. He knew that firebenders _died_ when they broke loyalty.

But would living be worth it, if it was just in a sunless box?

"I'm not loyal to him," said Karla. "I don't know if I've ever been."

Hermann was in shock. "How? He's our Father."

Karla shrugged, not meeting his eyes. "I don't know. But I've never felt any…pull, or whatever, to obey him or follow him or whatever loyalty's supposed to feel like."

Hermann's head tilted sideways in bafflement. How did she not know how loyalty felt? Every Fire Nation person should know what loyalty was, how it burned and tugged at the heart.

In any case, that wasn't important right now. Karla's decision was already made, in a way.

"So why are you staying here, if you're not loyal to Father? Why did you even get on this ship in the first place?" Hermann asked.

Karla shrugged. "I wanted to see if we were really being called home. Sure, it wasn't much of a chance, but…I guess I was just tired of this stupid quest. Even if it was fake, it was something new."

"Oh," said Hermann. He felt stupid; he hadn't ever thought that Bastien might have been lying until the truth had come out. But Karla had suspected from the beginning. Of course she had. Hermann wondered when Karla's superior social skills would cease surprising him. Probably never.

Karla shrugged again. "I don't know."

There was silence.

"That, and I knew you'd never make it on your own," Karla added. "So I had to come along to make sure you didn't get your idiot self killed, like I did five years ago."

"Oh," Hermann said again. "Erm. Thank you, I suppose."

Karla nodded. "Sure thing, dearest brother. You're family - what else could I do?"

Hermann nodded stiffly. "Of course."

"And I'm guessing you got on the boat because you couldn't disobey Father's orders, right?" said Karla.

"So what if I did?" snapped Hermann. "So what if I'm loyal to him? What does it matter?"

"Well," said Karla, "it matters because that's going to determine whether or not you come with me when I get the hell off this boat."

"Oh," said Hermann. He'd been saying that a lot this conversation. "You know that if I break loyalty, I won't be of much use in getting off this boat, correct?"

Karla waved a hand. "It takes a while for the fever to set in, dearest brother. We'll have time."

Hermann nodded, mouth dry. He was starting to get the sense that he'd already made his decision, without being quite conscious that he'd made it. "In that case, we should start preparing immediately, so we're ready to go before it's too late."

Karla sat up and rested a hand on Hermann's shoulder. "Hermann. Just so you know, in case - in case. I'm so proud of you, dearest brother, and I'm so glad you seem to have figured out what you want."

Hermann shook his head. "It's more what I don't want, that being - well. Losing the sun, and so on, and I particularly don't want to see you boxed up in such a way. It - it wouldn't suit you. But yes. We should move quickly." His own liberty was important, yes, but not _that_ important; he was useless, just another spare Fire Prince. But Karla was the best chance for the next Fire Lord that they would get, even if she wasn't a bender. It was imperative that she survive, and if Hermann could help with that, he would, even if it meant breaking his loyalty to his Father.

The next few days were tense, the two of them waiting for an opportune moment to steal a lifeboat and escape hopefully unnoticed. But finally, on a new moon night, they were over the side and gone, both their topknots cut to float on the waves as Hermann and Karla themselves would. The currents in this part of the ocean swept towards the Earth Kingdom; they would make land in perhaps a month. Where, neither of them could say, but it would indubitably be better than they would find under the Fire Lord's care.


	6. Chapter 6

**Year 4344**

Two days after he had first knocked on her door, Newt was officially Lightcap's apprentice. He had been on his absolute best behavior those two days, although he still hadn't found a place to sleep, so there was that. Apartments in Ba Sing Se, even in the Lower Ring, were incredibly expensive, and he still didn't have any money. He'd start earning wages tomorrow. At least Lightcap had fed him.

After he'd left, early by Lightcap's standards but late by his own, he wandered the streets for a while, directionless. He paused by the invitingly lit open door of a teashop, considering going inside for a bit. He couldn't buy any tea, sure, but he could sit in the warm for a while and rest before he wandered off again. And he was really starting to miss just talking with other people, socializing and being around a group for no purpose other than socializing. Water was family and community; the lack of either one of those was starting to wear on Newt.

He sat down at a table in the tea shop on autopilot, nostalgia for the North heavy in his mind. He knew it hadn't actually been that great; he hadn't had any friends, and Uncle Ilia had been more distant than affectionate most of the time. But at least everyone there had been Water Tribe. There had been community, and he'd known he could fall back on it if necessary, even if, most of the time, he hadn't quite fit.

This was ridiculous. He needed to stop dwelling on it. It'd been two years, for La's sake.

One of the employees, a blond kid in an apron, came up and asked him what he'd like to order, sir. Newt stared at him blankly until the kid got nervous and left.

Newt sat quietly at the table for a while longer, watching patrons drift in and out of the shop. None of them spoke to him; but then, he supposed he wasn't exactly making himself look inviting.

Some time later, when there were a lot fewer people there than there had been when he'd first sat down, a tall, Earth Kingdom woman with a metal arm entered the shop, trailed by two children, a boy and a girl. The kid in the apron seemed to know them; he made a beeline for them the moment he spotted them, especially towards the girl.

Newt watched as the three children chattered amongst themselves, not particularly listening to the precise words said. That sense of loneliness hit him hard again, seeing these three obviously close friends talking.

He stood from his table and left as quietly as he could, not wanting to disturb them or intrude. The sound of their laughter followed him out into the gathering night.

It was getting late in the year; the leaves on what shedding trees there were in the city had started to turn gold and red and brown and fall to coat the streets in slippery, flame-colored drifts.This brilliant autumn display was one thing the Earth Kingdom had that the Northern Water Tribe never would, Newt thought. It was one of the things he'd miss, if he ever got a chance to go back home.

He sighed and kicked at a clump of leaves. Thinking about what might be if he got a chance to go back home was useless. He'd never get that chance. He was an exile, and exile was for life.

And if Master Lightcap ever found out he was an exile, he'd probably be out on his ear faster than he could blink. Exile meant _nobody_ would talk to you or help you. That was how it was supposed to work. That was what made it a punishment.

Newt found a likely-looking alcove for the night and plopped down, tucking his too-thin coat around him. He'd see how things with Master Lightcap went in the morning, and he'd just…not mention the whole exile thing.

It didn't matter. He wasn't a bad person; he hadn't really deserved that sentence. So if he didn't mention it, which he didn't have to do, since he hadn't deserved it,it was no big deal, and then it was like it didn't exist.

Yeah.

\---

**Year 4344**

Hermann and Karla had been hoping to get to shore before Hermann's broken loyalties caught up with them, but they were not nearly so lucky. After a few minutes of floating in their tiny boat, Hermann tucked himself into a tiny, shivering ball, head down. When Karla touched him, he was ice cold.

They didn't have anything to build a fire with, and the tiny lifeboat wasn't fireproof, and Karla didn't know what else to do to help someone whose fire had gone out.

Karla wrapped herself around him, and he clung to her in return, limbs weak and shaking. He seemed dazed, barely present, and didn't respond when spoken to. Even under every blanket they'd managed to steal, his hands and feet still burned with how cold they were. Even more than that, it was his visible, clinging vulnerability that worried Karla the most. Hermann never let anyone know when he was struggling. Angry, yes, he always made that obvious, and their family - their whole Nation, but especially their family - was known for their tempers. But upset? Weak in any way? He kept all those locked up firmly, as Father had taught them was proper for royalty of the greatest Nation on the planet.

Karla sighed quietly, doing her best to press herself as close to her brother as she could and think positive, firelike thoughts (was that a thing? She'd make it a thing). All she could do was keep him warm, reassure him that he still had clan, still had family, pray to Agni that he had the strength to survive, and wait for dawn.

\---

**Year 4344**

The Winter Solstice was drawing near, and with it preparations were increasing rapidly. Miss Tamsin's shop was selling mint and chocolate and cinnamon and ginger to warm the spirits, and bundles of sage to cleanse dwelling-places. Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen were coming to visit soon, probably arriving in the next day or so, and Mako and Chuck were both _super excited_ about that. They hadn't seen their dads in months, and although Aunt Luna was wonderful and awesome and working in Aunt Luna's shop was also awesome and being able to stay in one place and really get to know the people here was _really awesome_ , there wasn't really anything that made up for not having their family around. Mako missed her Dad, and she knew Chuck missed his, and Aunt Luna was probably looking forward to seeing her brother again.

Aunt Luna had explained the Solstice plan a few days ago. Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen were scheduled to arrive a few days beforehand. Miss Tamsin and Raleigh would be invited over bright and early for breakfast, then they'd spend the day cleaning Aunt Luna's apartment, Aunt Luna's shop, Miss Tamsin's shop, Miss Tamsin's apartment, and Raleigh's family's apartment. With so many people, Mako was sure it would take hardly any time at all, and then they would all have lunch together. If the cleaning wasn't done yet, they'd finish that up, then they'd go to Guanyin's shrine at sundown for sitting quietly and listening time. It wasn't really called that, Mako knew, but that was basically what it was. The grownups would talk a lot, and Guanyin's priest would drone on about returning light, and then there would be candles and setting (very small) things on fire, and then they would go home and have dinner with everybody. Mako was really looking forward to the whole thing, but probably especially the candles. Fire was so pretty.

Right now, Mako and Chuck and Aunt Luna and Miss Tamsin were out looking at garlands to hang up in Aunt Luna's shop and apartment and Miss Tamsin's shop and apartment to ward against malevolent kamuiy in the coming year. Thinking about the spirits was a little scary, especially since they had never stayed in one place long enough to have to worry about spirits before, so she'd never had to think about them before the autumn equinox this year. But Mako knew that respecting the spirits was important, and making sure spirits and humans didn't hurt each other would be part of her job when she was older, so learning about them and how to deal with them was really important.

Miss Tamsin knew the most out of all of them about which plants worked best for what purposes, and she was haggling aggressively with the proprietor about the garlands that they would be buying while Mako and Chuck wandered around the shop looking at the plants and flowers and Aunt Luna leaned quietly against a wall, watching Miss Tamsin argue.

"I think Miss Tamsin and Aunt Luna like each other," Mako whispered to Chuck. "Like, _like-like_ each other." The two of them were separated from the adults by a wall of greenery, so Mako thought they could probably talk without being heard.

Chuck made a face. "Ew, gross."

Mako scowled at him. "Just because no one like-likes you doesn't mean you have to put it down for others! You're so immature."

Chuck stuck out his tongue, proving once again that he was definitely immature. "Why are you bringing this up, anyway?"

"Because it's nice to see them happy!" said Mako. "And celebrating love and family is what Solstice is all about."

"Whatever," Chuck grumbled. He was so terrible at Solstice cheer. "Are they done yet?"

Mako glanced around the wall of greenery to see Miss Tamsin grinning smugly and watching the shopkeeper wrap wreaths of plants in waxed paper. "I think so. C'mon, let's not make Aunt Luna look for us." She grabbed Chuck's hand and tugged him out from behind the display to go stand next to Aunt Luna and wait for Miss Tamsin to collect the garlands so they could leave.

On the way home, Mako caught glimpses of dark green shadows flashing past on the rooftops. She didn't look too long; the Dai Li were scary, and she didn't want them to have any reason to look at her and her family. She knew they were supposed to help protect Ba Sing Se from malevolent kamuiy, and they had a lot to do around the Solstices and Equinoxes, but just because the city needed them didn't make them less scary.

Mako put it from her mind. It was Solstice! Or almost Solstice. She should cheer up. She didn't want to be a party-pooper like Chuck, after all.

When they got back to Miss Tamsin's shop, which was closer to the place that sold garlands than Aunt Luna's apartment was, there was a strange person talking to Raleigh, who had been left in charge of Miss Tamsin's shop while the rest of them went to look at garlands.

"Look, kid, I just need to talk to your boss," the strange person was saying. He was looking pretty exasperated.

"And I told you, she's not here right now, and I can help you with whatever you need," said Raleigh, looking harried. "That's my job. That's what I'm doing here."

"And _I_ told _you_ , I need to talk to your boss," said the strange person.

Miss Tamsin slid smoothly into the scene, patting Raleigh on the shoulder and shooing him, Mako, and Chuck off to the other half of the shop to warm up after the cold of the street outside.

Mako wasn't able to hear much before the door slid shut behind them, but she was able to catch the name of the strange person (Newt? Who named anybody Newt? What kind of name was that, anyway?) and that his master had apparently sent him to pick up a usual order of some kind, and that was why Newt had wanted to talk to Miss Tamsin instead of just Raleigh.

"What a weirdo," said Chuck as soon as the door had closed.

Mako elbowed him, because he was being rude.

"Yeah, he was kind of a weirdo," said Raleigh, although at least he waited until they were definitely out of earshot and sitting at a table in the teashop half of Miss Tamsin's shop, a pot of tea steeping on the table. "He was Water Tribe, apparently."

"Well, that would explain why he was so weird," said Chuck. "Other nations aren't like us. They've got weird customs and weird food. He didn't look Water Tribe, though."

Raleigh shrugged. "Other nations aren't that weird. But yeah, apparently he and Tamsin's friend Lightcap are both from the Northern Water Tribe, and that's why he's apprenticed under her."

"I didn't know Miss Tamsin had a friend from the Water Tribe," said Mako. "Is Lightcap a waterbender?"

Raleigh nodded. "She's a healer. So is Newt. That's what her usual order is - it's for herbs and stuff to do healing that doesn't need waterbending."

"Ohhh," said Mako, understanding.

"Waterbenders can heal?" asked Chuck.

"Duh, stupid," said Raleigh. "How did you not you know that?"

Chuck shoved him out of his chair. "I've never met a waterbender before, stupid!"

"Both of you are stupid," Mako muttered as Raleigh hit the floor of the shop with a thud. Sometimes she couldn't believe that she was technically younger than both of them. They were so immature.

Raleigh grinned up at her. He looked a lot like a baby lion-dog when he smiled like that, all dumb and happy and affectionate. He pointed that expression Mako's way a lot, so she'd had a lot of chances to puzzle out exactly what the pieces of it were.

Before he had a chance to say anything, though, Aunt Luna and Miss Tamsin came into the teashop half of Miss Tamsin's shop and sat down with a pot of tea of their own, and whatever moment there had been passed.

\---

**Year 4344**

Newt grumbled along the streets back to Master Lightcap's clinic, paper bag full of packets of the things that had been on Master Lightcap's list. Ugh, that kid had been so annoying with the way he'd insisted he knew the ropes of apothecary as well as the master of that shop could have.

Well, okay, the kid hadn't said _precisely_ that, but he'd basically implied it, and that pissed Newt off, especially when Master Lightcap had laid out clearly that he was meant to wait for Tamsin, the owner of the shop, and give her the list of items.

Arriving at the clinic's door, Newt smoothed down his grumbling; the source of that grumbling, and the grumbling itself, weren't important right now, and everyone knew that a cranky healer (or healer's apprentice) made for poor healing.

"Master Lightcap, I have those herbs you sent me out for," he called as he entered.

"Busy," Master Lightcap called back. "Put them away, Newt, thanks, then go deal with the line."

Oh, Master Lightcap was with a patient. Of course she was. It was the late afternoon, when most people had just gotten off work and had time to go to a healer, so it was the clinic's busiest time. That was why Master Lightcap had sent Newt off to pick up the herbs, rather than going herself. Newt went into the back and sorted out the packets according to the system Master Lightcap had explained to him when he first became her apprentice, then returned to the waiting room to see who was next in line. There were no breaks here at the clinic; just who needed help next, and if there was no one who currently needed help, there were always other tasks to do.

He pasted on a smile and got to work with gentle questions and gentler hands.

\---

**Year 4344**

Dawn came, at long last, and Hermann was still breathing, if barely; his pulse still beat, if weakly. The sunlight helped, as it always did.

Karla didn't know how they'd managed it. Breaking loyalty was death; that was common knowledge. Other nations thought poorly of them, to continue with such an awful war - Karla had seen this hatred, along with the vicious consequences of raids and conquest, on their travels in the Earth Kingdom. Other nations functioned differently from the Fire Nation; not just in terms of society and the structure of day-to-day life, but in fundamental terms of how they were built. Other nations would never understand loyalty, and how it compelled soldiers to follow their commanders, and their commanders to follow the Fire Lord, on pain of death. Not execution; not death caused by soldiers hunting down deserters; the chill of fire broken, which would kill if not somehow stopped.

Karla wasn't sure she understood loyalty either, but at least she knew it existed, and, from the books she'd read, she knew how hard it pulled at one's spirit.

Hermann's eyes blinked open, unfocused but awake, squinting in the brilliance of the dawn. "Karla?"

"Hermann," said Karla. "You're okay?"

"Cold," said Hermann, and scooted closer to her.

Karla wrapped herself and the blankets more firmly around him. "You'll be okay, little brother," she said. "We're both going to be okay."

Hermann didn't respond. When Karla looked, she saw that his eyes were closed and his breathing had evened out into sleep.

\---

**Year 4344**

Raleigh was, to put it mildly, worried about Solstice. From what Mako had told him of the plan Luna and Tamsin had come up with, there would be joint apartment-cleaning, including his own apartment - or, as Mako had put it, "your family's apartment." Since Tamsin thought he was living with his family, that was what she had told Luna, and that was what Luna had told Mako and Chuck. Raleigh knew that that perception would be shattered the instant the other four stepped into his apartment and saw that no one but him lived there.

But tradition dictated that dwelling-places be cleaned at the Solstice, to encourage malevolent kamuiy who reveled in disorder and dust to go elsewhere. And, since Raleigh was apparently part of the family-group now, cleaning of dwelling-places included his dwelling-place, and it would be rude to refuse help.

Also, refusing would make Mako sad, and if Raleigh had anything to say about it, Mako would never have reason to be sad, so Raleigh could not refuse.

It still made him uneasy, knowing that the illusion he had created of a safety net behind him was about to be shattered to people who, judging by the way they insisted on including him in their Solstice preparations, cared about him. Such a shattering would hurt them, he was sure, and he really didn't want them to be hurt, especially not by his own hands as this would be.

But he saw no way around it. Either he refused their help, and offended them, and made Mako cry; or he accepted their help, thereby revealing the lie of omission he had committed, which would probably also offend them, and probably also make Mako cry.

He decided, eventually, that he would just go along with it. Better to not raise a fuss and have them look at him oddly.

\---

**Year 4344**

Hermann remembered very little of the lifeboat's weeks-long drift to shore. Most of what he knew was the soft rocking of the waves, and Karla, and feeling like he might never be warm enough again. Every sunset felt like it would be his last, and every dawn felt like being born anew. He spent a great deal of time sleeping or nearly sleeping, drifting in and out of consciousness with the push and pull of the ocean.

There were bits and pieces of clarity in his memories of that time. In one such moment of clarity, he remembered asking Karla, confused and afraid, what they were going to do once they reached shore.

"We'll go somewhere safe, little brother," she told him.

"Safe even from Father's reach?" he asked. He did not remember speaking or thinking of the Fire Lord with such fear before this endless drifting. He supposed that was the effect broken loyalties might have on his perception of such a powerful firebender who had already proven that he was willing to hurt Hermann, willing to cast him out, willing to lock him and Karla up in sunless metal boxes forever -

"Yes, even from the Fire Lord's armies," said Karla.

"Is there such a place?" asked Hermann.

Karla hesitated.

"Karla?" asked Hermann.

"There is," she said eventually. "There is one place that even the Fire Lord's armies cannot break into, cannot invade. They have tried, in the past, and they have failed."

"Where?" asked Hermann.

"You'll see, little brother," said Karla. "You'll see."

Hermann nodded, then went back to sleep. He trusted Karla to take care of them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Year 4344**

The Solstice dawned grey and cold, snow already falling in thick, wet clumps. In Master Lightcap's garden sweeping the small back porch and the stones of the path clear of snow and other debris as he had been assigned when he'd come in that morning, Newt breathed a sigh of relief. He paused in his sweeping and held up his hands to catch the frozen water and swirl it around himself. It had snowed for much of the two months previous, but the past week it had been clear, and Newt hadn't known what he would have done if there had been no snow on the Solstice. True, over the past two years he had often been somewhere with no snow or little snow over the Solstice, but he was back in the northern part of the Earth Kingdom now, and there was supposed to be snow here on the Solstice.

The door to the clinic slid open, and Newt turned, a little ashamed to have been caught playing in the snow like a child.

"Sorry, Master Lightcap," he said, resuming his task of sweeping. "I've just missed the snow lately."

Master Lightcap, leaning against the open doorway, nodded, a faint smile turning up one corner of her lips. "I get it, kid. Especially someone as fresh off the ice as you."

"I'm not fresh off the ice," he objected. "It's been two years."

"That's fresh off the ice," said Master Lightcap. "See, now, I've been here two _decades_. And I still miss having ice and snow around all the time. When you're done, c'mon inside; we're closed today, but there's still stuff to do."

Newt nodded, but once the door had slid shut behind Master Lightcap, he groaned. There was _always_ stuff to do. Of course the clinic being closed didn't mean he'd have a day off, or even a half day off. He'd sort of expected that, and that was why he'd come in that morning, but he'd hoped that, just for once, Master Lightcap might go easy on him. No such luck, he guessed.

He finished his sweeping and went inside, scuffing his boots clean on the mat and leaving the broom on the porch in order to keep as much of the snow outside as possible.Master Lightcap was in her workroom, sorting through her cabinet of herbs.

"So, what's the stuff we have to do today?" asked Newt.

"Solstice stuff," said Master Lightcap. "Cleaning, food, shrine. We might be Water Tribe, but we live in the Earth Kingdom, so we mostly have to follow their traditions or they get weirded out and I lose customers. And at midnight - you remember your Solstice traditions, right kid?"

Newt nodded, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. He hadn't been around another member of the Tribe on Solstice for two years, but he remembered how the traditions went. How could he ever forget?

"Thought so," said Master Lightcap. She found whatever she had been looking for and pulled out a packet marked WINTER SOLSTICE in clear characters. The stereotype of healers having awful calligraphy definitely didn't apply to her. "You've been on your own, yeah? Without the Tribe or any family?"

"Yeah, but it's no big deal," said Newt. It wasn't a big deal. He didn't need the Northern Water Tribe; judgmental assholes all of them. Sure, they liked to blab about how Water needed family, but Newt was sure that was bullshit. He didn't need anyone. Any loneliness he might display was a figment of his and everyone else's imaginations.

"Then it's been a while, hasn't it?" asked Master Lightcap. "Since you've gotten to follow Water's traditions with someone else who's Water."

"Yeah," said Newt. "I guess. I mean, it's been a long time for you too, right? Longer, even, unless there's other waterbenders here who you're family with?"

Master Lightcap shrugged. "There's a whole group of us here in the city, actually. We're not family, not really, but it's better than nothing. You must not have met most of them."

"It was hard enough finding one waterbender, much less the rest," Newt agreed, trying not to vibrate out of his skin with excitement. He knew there must have been other waterbenders here - the likelihood of him and Master Lightcap being the only waterbenders in a city as big as Ba Sing Se was slim to none. He'd just never had a chance to meet any of them in the few weeks he'd been living in Ba Sing Se - Master Lightcap had kept him busy. "Are we going to meet them for Solstice?"

"Yep," said Master Lightcap. "All right, let's get started." She waved the packet she'd found in her cabinet. "Sage, mint, and lavender. Incense for the Solstice. One bowl for every room, set there to burn while we clean. You know where the broom is, kid. Come on."

They set to work.

\---

**Year 4344**

The Solstice dawned grey and cold, snow already falling in thick, wet clumps. Chuck glared balefully at the morning light as Mako tried, mostly successfully, to drag him out of bed.

"Come _on_ , Chuck, it's Solstice!" said Mako.

"Why are you so awake," Chuck groaned. Except his voice was muffled by the blankets he had pulled over his face, so it came out more like "mrmrmrnrnngngngngng." But Mako could guess what he meant from the many, many mornings that had come previously, when he had made a similar complaint.

Mako didn't understand why Chuck wasn't a morning person. Couldn't he feel the dawn singing in his bones? Mako had watched the sun rise every morning that she could for as long as she could remember, even from before Mister Pentecost had adopted her. "Come on, sleepyhead!" she yelled, tugging harder on his captured hand. "It's time to get up! We have cleaning to do, and then food to eat, and then more cleaning and more food, and then Solstice gifts! Come _ooooooooon_!"

Unresisting, Chuck slid slowly out of bed, dragging the blankets along behind him, and thudded hard onto the floor. "Ow! Mako, ugh, why?" he demanded. At least he was awake now. "Do you have to do that _every_ Solstice?"

Mako nodded. "Yeah."

Chuck groaned again and wrapped the blankets more tightly around himself. "Ughhh."

Aunt Luna, no doubt notified by the loud noises that Mako and Chuck were awake, opened the door. "Oh, good, you're up," she said. "Breakfast's ready." She closed the door again.

"Thanks, Aunt Luna!" said Mako.

"Mmgnghguguh," said Chuck.

Mako bounced down the stairs, feeling, as she always did on Solstice morning, like a child in the best way possible. She was almost grown up now, but she could still be excited about Solstice. Solstice was really exciting, after all, even if Chuck was going to be a party pooper about it. Also, Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen were here, and they were coming with her and Chuck and Aunt Luna for Solstice and staying for a couple weeks afterwards, and that was just _so awesome_! When Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen had arrived the day before, both she and Chuck had launched themselves at their respective dads for hugs. Even though they were getting all grown up, and even if Chuck thought he was way too cool for things like hugs and affection now, both of them had missed their dads a lot.

After breakfast, the five of them went off to Miss Tamsin's shop to meet up with her and Raleigh. Chuck was still not awake, but Raleigh seemed marginally more alert than Chuck did.

"Good morning," said Miss Tamsin, once everyone was inside and sitting down. She seemed actually awake, unlike everyone else.

"Good morning!" said Mako. She was glad that someone else was sensible about this whole morning thing. She didn't see what was so bad about them, really. The sun was up, snow was falling, and it was going to be a wonderful day!

"Where are we cleaning first?" asked Raleigh, and yawned.

"As far as I knew, we were starting at Luna's house," said Mister Hansen. He also yawned. "So why were we meeting here, again?"

"Tea," said Miss Tamsin. "Mostly tea. And I want a chance to catch up with you and Stacker, since I haven't seen you in, what's it been, ten years?"

Mister Hansen yawned again and nodded. "Something like that."

"We apologize for not coming to see you yesterday," said Mister Pentecost. "But when we arrived, it was late, and we wished to spend some time with our children and my sister." He looked down at Mako and smiled, squeezing her hand in his gently. Mako grinned up at her dad and squeezed his hand back.

Miss Tamsin waved it off. "Whatever." To Raleigh she said, "Minion, go make tea. Sage, mint, and lavender, for the Solstice."

"Mmhm." Raleigh stood, yawned again, and shuffled off.

Mako bounced quietly in her seat and Chuck dozed on the table as the adults chatted amongst themselves about adult things that Mako didn't really care about yet, until Raleigh came back with the tea.

After they had finished their tea, they all tromped off to Aunt Luna's apartment to start the rounds of cleaning. Mako and Chuck, who hadn't seen snow before, spent a lot of time kicking at the drifts that were starting to pile up, and Chuck dumped a handful of snow down the back of Raleigh's coat. Raleigh yelped and retaliated by shoving Chuck face-first into a pile of snow, and Chuck threw a snowball at him before Mister Hansen grabbed Chuck by the collar and dragged him along after Mister Pentecost, Miss Tamsin, and Aunt Luna, who were getting ahead of the rest of them. Mako giggled at Chuck's scowl all the rest of the way there.

\---

**Year 4344**

By the time they landed on the Earth Kingdom's shores, Hermann was feeling a lot better, almost back to normal.

 _Although "normal" hasn't exactly been wonderful , or even up to previous standards , these past years,_ he thought sourly, helping Karla punch holes in the bottom of their stolen lifeboat so they could sink it to hide their trail. Bastien would probably be looking for them by now, after all, and they knew they didn't want to be found. The consequences would be unbearable.

 _On the run from my own family,_ thought Hermann, quietly despairing. He could hardly believe it. Even given a quest that he now knew was impossible, he had had faith that his Father loved him. Now…well. He couldn't count on that anymore.

Finished punching holes in the bottom, Hermann and Karla heaved the boat off the beach and into the water.

"Well," said Karla, watching it sink, "there's that."

Hermann nodded. Ever since he'd woken properly from the chill of broken flame that had almost killed him, he'd barely spoken. He hadn't been able to push anything past his lips apart from the vaguest of grunts. Words just…hadn't felt right, to him.He didn't know why, but he wasn't going to worry about it yet. He already had things to worry about, like the fact that his little brother was on his trail to bring him and Karla back in chains, or the fact that his leg had been aching more and more lately.

"We're going to Ba Sing Se," Karla said abruptly. "It's safe there. The Fire Lord won't be able to find us there."

"Mm," said Hermann, and nodded again.

Karla patted him gently on the shoulder. "It's going to be okay, little brother. You know that, right? It's all going to be okay."

Hermann doubted that, but he nodded anyway, because he didn't want Karla to worry about him.

\---

**Year 4344**

As they got further and further in cleaning Tamsin's shop, Raleigh worried more and more about what they would be doing next, which was cleaning his apartment. As Tamsin's shop got cleaner and cleaner, they all got closer and closer to discovering that, rather than living with his family, Raleigh was on his own.

There was nothing he could do about it now, besides clean and be helpful and pleasant and fetch tea when they took breaks. He tried to put it aside, but it refused to leave his mind, and he hoped desperately that his worry wasn't showing on his face.

"Raleigh? Are you okay?" asked Mako, glancing at him from where she was dusting a shelf of tea tins. "You look worried."

Earth crush it, his worry was showing. Raleigh pasted on a smile, shook his head, reconsidered, then nodded. "No, yeah, sorry, I'm fine," he said. "Just thinking about how I'm gonna get Chuck back for this morning."

Mako giggled, her face lighting up with her laughter, and Raleigh's heart melted all over again. Guanyin's merciful veil, but he really liked her. He really liked her a whole lot.

"So, yeah, it's nothing," Raleigh continued. He really hoped she bought it. He didn't want her to be worried about him. And it _was_ nothing, so it wasn't like he was lying. Lying much, anyway.

Oh, they were all going to hate him when they found out he'd lied. Although he hadn't lied. He just hadn't corrected their perception, which was incorrect. That was basically the same thing as lying, though.

"Minion!" Tamsin called, like she had every half-hour on the half-hour previously. "Go make tea; we're taking a break."

"Yes, boss," Raleigh called back, relieved for the chance to escape for a bit. What would be would be; there was nothing he could do about it now.

\---

**Year 4344**

Once Master Lightcap's clinic was spotless and smelled strongly of incense, which took well into the afternoon with a brief break for lunch, Newt and Master Lightcap went to Master Lightcap's apartment, which wasn't far, to cook a dish for the potluck the people of Water held as their Solstice dinner. Stepping into the apartment felt like coming home, and not just because it was mainly decorated in blue and white rather than green and brown. Newt hadn't realized how much he'd missed having other waterbenders around until he stepped inside the home of one - that presence, that sense of family and community soaked into the entire place, was unmistakable.

Newt reminded himself that he was not going to cry in front of Master Lightcap. That would be seriously uncool, and it would also seriously undermine how seriously she took him, if just stepping into another waterbender's apartment made him cry. Being banished wasn't a big deal. He wasn't upset about it, or about not being in contact with anyone of Water for the past few years. His eyes were still prickling as he looked around, but he could disguise sniffles as being because of the cold weather.

"So, what are we making?" he asked, scuffing his feet dry on the door-mat.

"We're signed up for bringing a main dish," said Master Lightcap. "I was thinking vegetable and tuber stew. Easy, doesn't take much prep other than chopping, everybody likes it. Also, everyone else'll bring meat, so we should bring something not meat to give people a break. I mean, I like meat as much as anyone, but there's such thing as too much of a good thing."

Newt nodded. "Yeah, of course. So, uh, what do you need me to do?"

Master Lightcap started nudging him in the direction of the kitchen. "Chop vegetables and tubers, mostly. Watch the stewpot and add more water as needed so it doesn't burn. You know, stew stuff."

Newt nodded again, as if he made stew every day. He didn't. He'd learned to cook back home, of course, everyone did, but stew was an all-day sort of proposition, only for special occasions, and he was a busy person. He didn't have all day to stand over a stove. A thought occurred to him and he frowned. "Wait. Doesn't stew take all day to cook?"

Master Lightcap grinned. "Hasn't anybody ever taught you how to apply waterbending in the kitchen, kiddo?"

Newt's eyes widened. You could _do_ that? "Seriously?"

Master Lightcap's grin broadened. "Oh man, you are gonna learn so much today."

 _Well, that's not ominous at all_ , thought Newt.

\---

**Year 4344**

As the song went, Hermann thought to himself one evening, curled up with Karla next to their tiny campfire, it was a long, long way to Ba Sing Se. They'd been able to catch rides from various passing farmers and merchants, playing off their pity for an obvious cripple and his sister, but there was still a lot of time spent walking, and Hermann's leg ached. It had ached since that awful day four years ago, in varying levels of tolerability, but after weeks of walking on uneven roads, and having to sleep on the ground with no cushion apart from a few blankets, it was screaming. He had very little hope of actually getting to sleep tonight, he was sure.

Unless - he had heard, from the older lords in Fath - the Fire Lord's court, that nothing was better for aches and pains than a hot bath. They weren't able to have the "bath" part of that, not out here, but the "hot" part…

Hermann beckoned to their campfire. Not to the flames; to the heat. He didn't want to burn himself any more than he'd already been burned. That would be stupid. The heat curled obediently around his hands like summer sunlight, shimmering in the air but otherwise invisible. He held his heat-wrapped hands to his upper thigh and hip and shuddered in relief as the warmth washed through his stiff muscles and into his bones. He beckoned again to the fire, wanting more of that delicious heat. He wasn't paying as much attention this time, and his circling hands caught a little fire in with the warmth.

When Hermann noticed the _fire_ that he was _pressing to his leg_ \- which didn't take much time at all, he wasn't stupid - he jerked his hands away out of surprise. He bit back a yelp, not wanting to wake Karla, and examined his clothes, cursing his exhaustion and the absentmindedness that followed on its heels.

Not burned. Not even singed. Just warm to the touch, like a rock that had been sitting out in the sunlight.

Cautiously, he reached out to the campfire again, this time deliberately gathering the flame and swirling it between his palms, attempting to repeat the phenomenon.

Between his hands, the flame shifted, and went gold and green and violet. Hermann's breath caught in his throat. He pressed his fire-wrapped hands ever-so-carefully to his leg, ready to yank away in an instant if it burned -

Not burning. Warm and gentle, like the fire's heat, and soothing. He could feel the ache in his leg disappearing the longer he kept his hands against it until it was almost gone. Not vanished entirely, of course, he could never be so lucky, but faded almost past noticing.

He was so relieved to _not hurt_ as much that he passed out, gold and green and violet flickering out as his eyes shut and his hands went limp.

\---

**Year 4344**

Raleigh was acting weird, thought Mako as the seven of them waded through the deepening snow in the deepening twilight of late afternoon from Tamsin's apartment to Raleigh's apartment. He had been quiet all day, and he looked worried, even though he swore up and down that it was nothing.

Mako hoped Raleigh knew that he could tell her anything. She was good at keeping secrets, and she wouldn't laugh at him.

When they arrived, Raleigh showed them inside, acting weirder by the second. He seemed like he was going to shake out of his skin, and Mako would really rather Raleigh and his skin stayed attached. His skin was pretty crucial to him staying alive, after all, and Mako liked Raleigh being alive.

"Oh," said Miss Tamsin, looking around at the tiny, undecorated apartment. "Nice place. Bit small, isn't it?"

Mako had thought it looked a little small for a family, but she wasn't going to say anything. Maybe Raleigh's family couldn't afford a bigger apartment.

Raleigh shook his head, looking anxious and miserable and Mako _wished_ she knew what was bothering him.

"Doesn't look like your parents like to decorate much," said Mister Hansen.

Raleigh shook his head again, looking slightly ill.

"Raleigh, are you okay? You look like you're going to throw up," said Mako.

"Fine!" Raleigh's voice cracked. "I'm fine. Everything's fine. I'm not going to throw up."

"This place is too little for a family," Chuck said, brash and rude and tactless as usual. "If Mako and Aunt Luna and me lived in a place this small, we'd kill each other."

Mako elbowed him. She wouldn't kill Chuck. He was her brother. She'd just step on his feet a lot. Also, Raleigh was looking even more nervous at what Chuck had said, and Mako just _knew_ it was Chuck's fault.

"Are your parents out at work?" Mister Pentecost asked.

Raleigh didn't answer. He didn't move. He just stared at the floor, looking more and more awkward by the second.

"Do you even have parents?" asked Chuck. Mako elbowed him again, because that was just rude. You didn't just ask someone if they had parents!

Raleigh didn't answer, just kept staring at the floor.

"Raleigh?" asked Mako.

Raleigh shook his head. He opened his mouth to talk, closed it again, then swallowed visibly. "No," he whispered. "Sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Miss Tamsin asked.

Raleigh took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and looked up. "I'm sorry I lied to all of you. I let you guys think that I was living with my family, but I'm actually here on my own. I was supposed to be traveling with my older brother, but he died on the way here."

You could have heard a pebble drop.

"Oh," said Mako.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late; forgot to post it yesterday.

**Year 4344**

Raleigh told them, said it outright when they would have spent endless tense minutes guessing, then shut up. He'd said his piece. It was up to them to react how they would.

Mako's dad and Chuck's dad and Mako and Chuck's aunt Luna all looked surprised and pitying, which didn't surprise Raleigh. Chuck looked confused. Tamsin didn't look surprised, more like she'd just figured something important out and she was pretty okay with the answer she'd gotten. And Mako…

Raleigh was almost afraid to look at Mako, not sure which reaction would be worst. But he glanced at her before his eyes returned to the floor, and her reaction didn't look too bad. Surprised, definitely. And she looked hurt that he'd lied to her, and that was what Raleigh _really hadn't wanted_ but it wasn't as if he hadn't been expecting it, so he could deal with it and probably hug Mako a lot later if she wanted to. But she wasn't crying, and she didn't seem to be pitying him, so basically things seemed to be going a lot better than he'd anticipated.

"Oh," said Mako. "What was your brother's name?"

"Yancy," said Raleigh.

"Can we clean now?" said Tamsin. "I mean, great to know all this, but it's only a few hours until sundown, so we don't have that much time."

Raleigh nodded, relieved that there wasn't going to be any more talk about it. It wasn't important, after all; why should they talk about it?

The other adults also nodded, although Chuck's dad looked troubled, and they got to work.

\---

**Year 4344**

Hermann didn't tell Karla about the oddly-colored fire the next morning as they were packing up what little camp they'd made. He didn't tell her about it on the road that day, or the next day, or the day after that. He wouldn't have mentioned it in words, in any case; those were still not quite cooperating with him, still refusing to pass his lips. It was a little frustrating, but he could manage. It wasn't a big deal; there wasn't much to talk about anyway. The scenery was boring and unchanging, they didn't pass many people on the road, and neither of them wanted to talk about the whole thing with Bastien and the Fire Lord (or perhaps it was that Hermann didn't want to talk about it and Karla put up with him not wanting to talk about it in order to maintain cordiality; he wasn't sure). The two of them stayed silent most of the time, each preoccupied with their own thoughts. Hermann would have felt odd breaching that silence and separateness for something as minor as oddly-colored fire, and that sense of awkwardness only increased as the days passed, so he grew ever less likely to mention it, by word or by gesture.

He had been practicing with the oddly-colored fire, late at night when Karla was asleep and his leg screamed from walking all day, and it had continued to be greatly helpful and even more peculiar. He had never learned of such a thing in his training, although it was entirely possible that he had simply not arrived at the point where he would learn about it during the four years he'd had access to formal training.

It was also possible that he was doing something completely and utterly wrong with the fire, something that no one had ever done before because no one had ever been that stupid before. Everyone knew that fire burned. It killed. It powered the engines of war, the ships and tanks and catapults the Fire Lord used in his slow encroachment upon the Earth Kingdom. Fire was cruel. It wasn't gentle. It didn't help, ever. That wasn't how the world worked.

But this oddly-colored fire seemed to help. It was gentle. It warmed; it didn't burn. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen before, and that only fueled his worry that he was doing something terribly wrong.

But it wasn't hurting anyone. Just the opposite. And it didn't hurt to use, or anything, and it wasn't any more tiring than regular firebending. It was just…odd.

When Hermann and Karla had arrived at the ferry dock on the far side of Full Moon Bay, exhausted and hungry in the gathering twilight of the days just after the Winter Solstice, Hermann still hadn't mentioned the oddly-colored fire to Karla. He didn't think he would, now, unless he needed it. Fortunately, neither of them had gotten badly injured on the road; they'd managed to avoid bandits and other unsavory persons for the most part, and neither of them had gotten injured by some other means.

They faced some minor difficulty at the ferry dock, when the official narrowed his eyes and thought they might resemble images on a pair of wanted posters put out, supposedly, for the protection of the citizenry. The wanted posters were indeed of them and they had a few shared heart-stopping moments of terror, but fortunately they looked different enough with their hair down that they were able to persuade the official that he was mistaken.

Hermann's unwillingness to speak also presented a challenge. Karla had started explaining some weeks ago that her brother was mute, just to make things easier among the small villages they had passed through, and she pulled out that explanation here. The official narrowed his eyes at that, too, but both of them did their best to look cute and pathetic - they did look a lot younger than they were here, since the people of the Earth Kingdom tended to be tall and broad with square or round faces - and the official relented, stamping their papers with enough red ink to make them bleed.

The ferry itself was mostly uneventful. The gentle rocking of the boat was soothing to Hermann, perhaps because of the boat he'd lived on for a few years before they'd taken their search for the Avatar to land.

(He'd never find the Avatar and bring her back, he'd never get his honor back, he was a traitor and a failure and it was no wonder his Father had cast him out…)

Finding a place to live, once they reached Ba Sing Se proper, also posed few difficulties. In their midnight flight from Bastien's ship, the two of them had stolen as much coin as they could carry, and spent it as sparingly as possible across the Earth Kingdom in their travels. Money wasn't a problem right now. It would be in a few weeks, and they should try to find work as quickly as possible, but it was one less thing to worry urgently about.

Staring up at the ceiling of their new apartment, listening to Karla's soft, even breathing from a few feet away, Hermann thought to himself that he certainly hadn't been expecting his quest for the Avatar to turn out this way. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but failure so complete that he and Karla had to flee for the their lives from their own family had definitely not been on his mind.

He'd been loyal to the Fire Lord. He'd owed the Fire Lord loyalty. And that loyalty had not been fairly repaid, so he'd taken it back. He didn't know how he'd managed to survive, but he was fairly certain that his sister and his affection for - and perhaps even loyalty to - her were at least partly responsible.

He had already known that he owed Karla his life. She was the one who had cared for him after - after, and prevented an infection from setting in, and helped him retain what function his leg had left in it. She was the one who had argued against the Fire Lord's initial sentence of death for cowardice and persuaded him down to only banishment and the hunt for the Avatar. And now here she was again, helping him to survive broken loyalty.

He should do something for her, he thought to himself as he drifted into sleep. Perhaps a Solstice gift, although it was a few days late. Perhaps he could ask her, somehow, if he could do anything to repay her.

In the morning, though. In the morning.

\---

**Year 4344**

Cooking by waterbending was _awesome_ , Newt discovered, although Master Lightcap had handled most of it once she'd showed him how it worked. That was okay. That was totally cool. Chopping vegetables was important too, maybe even more important, because without vegetables you couldn't have stew, and not having stew would just suck a lot.

The thing about cooking with waterbending was that stew which would have ordinarily taken hours upon hours upon _hours_ to cook took only an hour or two. So the stew was done before sundown, and Newt carried the pot as he walked behind Master Lightcap in the direction of the place that the potluck would be held , which was apparently somebody's house in the Middle Ring . The pot was heavy and kind of unwieldy and also really hot, but Newt didn't complain, because he would be meeting other waterbenders and getting to be around other waterbenders for the first time in _two years_ , not counting Master Lightcap.

Not that Master Lightcap wasn't wonderful - she was, and Newt was incredibly grateful to her for taking him on as an apprentice. But she wasn't a tribe. One person did not a community make. And a bigger family was always better! Newt didn't have any siblings, and he'd barely known either of his parents, and Uncle Ilia was great and all but he was just one person.

By the time they arrived, Newt was almost falling over from exhaustion from carrying the heavy pot all the way there combined with a day of cleaning combined with the weeks preceding full of colds and bruises and broken bones from slipping on ice. Neither he nor Master Lightcap had slipped on the way there; they were good enough waterbenders to be able to tell where there was ice under the snow.

Entering was like coming home, except warmer. There was blue everywhere, and a fire going in the hearth, and hangings that looked very similar to the ones that had hung in Uncle Ilia's house back at the North Pole.

Newt reminded himself again that crying would be undignified and everyone would probably sneer at him. Water Tribe people could be pretty cold sometimes.

He set the stewpot down on the table that already had a bunch of food on it, relieved to not have to carry it anymore, and glanced around at the other people gathered in the space. There weren't that many yet, but people were still arriving, and it was still more Water Tribe people than Newt had seen in two years.

Belatedly, he found himself hoping that no one here would have left the North Pole more recently than he had. He didn't want to be recognized, and he really didn't want anyone around who would know the circumstances of his departure from the North Pole and just how involuntary it actually was. Not that he didn't appreciate the chance he'd been given to learn more about the Earth Kingdom; he did appreciate that. A lot. But he didn't exactly want people to know he'd been banished; Ba Sing Se was a fresh start, a second chance, and all of them would shun him if they found out. As they should, really; that was what being banished was all about. But Newt didn't have to like it. That was the point, really, that he wouldn't like it.

Whatever. It was whatever. It would be fine. It was pretty unlikely there would be someone here that would know him, much less someone here that would know he was banished. Most people had probably been living here for several years, especially if they were in contact with the other waterbenders. The North Pole was a big place; and besides, there were probably waterbenders here from all over the world. Maybe even somebody from the South Pole! That would be exciting. Newt had never met anybody from the South Pole before.

Yeah. No. He wasn't going to worry about it. He was going to really enjoy being around other waterbenders again and put any such downer thoughts from his mind. Yeah.

\---

**Year 4344**

At sundown, the seven of them went to the shrine, which wasn't _really_ far from Raleigh's apartment, but it was far enough that Mako's feet started to hurt. She didn't whine, though; whining was for babies, and she was practically a grownup already. She had been allowed to really help with the Solstice cleaning this year, rather than just being given a baby task like washing dishes. She had washed some dishes, true, but she had also done lots of other things, and Chuck had washed more dishes than she had by a lot because he was a baby so Aunt Luna, who had been in charge of assigning tasks, had given him a baby job.

As they walked, Mako was holding her dad's hand, and Chuck was holding _his_ dad's hand, and Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen were each holding the other's free hand, and Aunt Luna and Miss Tamsin were holding each other's hands, but Raleigh wasn't holding anybody's hand and Mako was pretty sure that was unfair, even if he had lied to them a little about living on his own and even if Mako was still kind of upset he'd lied like that. Didn't he know that he could trust them? That they would take him in if he needed, no questions asked?

Well. He probably didn't know that, actually, since he'd grown up in the Earth Kingdom, and from the way he talked it had been a small village. Earth might supposedly be about compassion, but a lot of people got really excited about the whole boundaries thing, the precise designation of things and people and places that belonged in your group versus things and people and places that didn't. So those same people also built strict walls, mostly metaphorically marked with KEEP OUT signs, and didn't let anybody else in if they could help it.

Mako was pretty sure that was silly - separation like that didn't let you talk to people and learn from them and about them, and Mako thought that learning about people who thought differently was really important. Even in the Earth Kingdom, there were a whole lot of different people who thought about things in really different ways. But a lot of the really small villages were pretty much the same wherever you went. They didn't like outsiders, there. Not even a little bit. They'd always looked at Mako and Chuck and Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen all suspiciously, because they weren't from around there. They were _foreign_.

So Raleigh probably didn't know that Mako and her family would welcome him into their midst. It wasn't good for people to be all by themselves.

Mako held out her hand in Raleigh's direction, but didn't say anything. He'd either notice, or he wouldn't, and he'd either take her hand, or he wouldn't.

Raleigh _did_ notice, as it turned out, and he _did_ take her hand, smiling at her like she was the sun in the sky. He smiled at Mako like that a lot. He was such a lion-dog puppy. But Mako was glad he seemed to be feeling better. She'd have to make sure to make it clear that Raleigh didn't have to be by himself, if he didn't already know that.

The service was as boring as it always was, and Mako tuned a lot of it out. Their family had had Solstice in a lot of different places over the years, and shrine services were pretty much the same over the whole Earth Kingdom. Calling back the sun, reminding everybody that the darkness wouldn't last forever, blah blah blah. Mako would have fallen asleep, but Mister Pentecost nudged her gently every time she started drifting off. Chuck was out cold, asleep on Mister Hansen's shoulder, and Mister Hansen seemed like he was only a few minutes from dozing off himself. Raleigh was at least pretending to listen attentively, but he wasn't doing a very good job of pretending - his attention kept wandering around the shrine. Hadn't he ever seen one before?

Eventually, they got to the interesting bit. The small, thin candles were passed out, and Guanyin's priest went around with a taper, and soon everyone was holding a little piece of fire. It was supposedly to remind them that even in the darkest winter, there was still the light of hope, or something, but Mako just loved watching the flame. It flickered, just like a little heartbeat, and it was so bright in the dimness of the shrine. Chuck thought it was weird how much she liked candles, but she didn't care what Chuck thought because Chuck was a big meanie.

Finally, the service was over, and they were all back outside in the cold, walking home.

"Raleigh, you should come home with us," said Mister Pentecost. His tone said that he wouldn't take no for an answer. His tone often said that.

"But you already have so many people in your house," Raleigh protested, turning to Aunt Luna to see if she would agree with him. "Right?"

"Wrong," said Aunt Luna. "We can't let you go back to that empty apartment by yourself."

Mako nodded, then looked at Chuck, trying to get him to agree with her. He scuffed his feet in the snow and scowled, but nodded. He at least put up with Raleigh, even if he thought Raleigh was weird. Chuck thought a lot of things were weird, which was kind of weird, given how weird he himself was.

Raleigh turned his lion-dog-puppy eyes on Miss Tamsin, hoping she might sway the opinions of the adults in his favor. She shook her head, grinning.

"Family's important, minion," she said, ruffling Raleigh's hair. "Shame yours isn't here, but looks like you've found one that'll take care of you."

Mako looked at Raleigh and smiled. He smiled back in that sunshiney way he had, and seemed convinced.

"Okay. I'll stay with you guys tonight. But I do have to go back at some point to pack up and stuff," he said.

"We'll go with you," said Chuck, surprising Mako. She hadn't thought he'd liked Raleigh even a little bit. Apparently Chuck could be something other than a total jerk sometimes.

Raleigh nodded and took Mako's hand, still smiling at her.

\---

**Year 4344**

Finding work when you were unwilling to speak was difficult, Hermann was discovering. He'd resorted to writing things down when he had to, but he didn't have that much paper and his calligraphy wasn't as fast or as steady as it could have been, so that wasn't always the best option. Gestures could only convey so much. Really, it would have been best for everyone involved if Hermann had just forced his voice to cooperate rather than allowing himself this ridiculous weakness.

He was perfectly capable of speech; his throat was uninjured, as were his lungs; and he had been talking just fine until he and Karla had fled from Bastien's ship. There was no cause Hermann could think of for this absurdity. He hardly needed to be adding to his disadvantages, in any case; fugitive, crippled, the enemy by birth of the city where he and Karla had made their home, and now voiceless. He would have set something on fire in frustration, if that would not have immediately revealed the two of them for what they were and set both the Dai Li and the City Guard on their heels had he done it in public, and probably burned down their place of dwelling had he done it in private. He had to content himself with meditation, and once in a while running cold katas on the roof of the apartment building, where nobody came. Even those were a challenge; in the winter's cold, his hip and leg were even more uncooperative than they usually were, even with the help of the oddly-colored fire.

There was also that being back in a city after years of the lonely road with only Karla for company was jarring. It was loud, and crowded, and smelly, and everyone was so _tall_ and _broad_. Hermann had little doubt that many, if not most, of the Earth Kingdom people he met could snap him in half with barely a sweat broken on their part.

Karla had found work easily in a calligrapher's supply shop, selling ink, brushes, and paper with a smile on her face, and Hermann felt terribly guilty that he could not contribute as well as she could. He went on long walks every day, searching for someone who would be willing to hire someone as cranky and useless as he was, with no success thus far.

Finally, nearly two weeks after he and Karla had arrived, he stopped by a tiny narrow tea shop for a cup of tea, and he saw a brightly-colored sign indicating that the shop was hiring. It being the early evening, the shop was crowded, and Hermann hesitated at the mass of people. He didn't exactly want to wade through that. It promised to be unpleasantly close. But he bit his lip, took a deep breath, and made himself go in, because he needed the work and letting something as simple as a crowd stop him from going to get that work would be idiotic.

He had been right. It was unpleasantly close. But he managed to reach the counter without injury to either himself or others, so he counted that a success, and he was able to get the attention of the woman behind the counter who seemed to be in charge.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

Hermann nodded and pulled a notepad out of his bag. With careful, even strokes, he wrote that he had noticed the sign outside and was wondering if she was still hiring, then held up the notepad so she could read it.

"Not a talker, huh? You mute or something?" asked the woman behind the counter.

Hermann shrugged, staring fixedly at the counter. He wasn't exactly proud of it, and he hated having attention drawn to him. He held up the notepad a little more insistently.

"Oh, yeah, that. Uh, yeah, actually, I am still hiring. Got enough customers lately I need another extra pair of hands. You interested in the position, then?"

Hermann nodded. Working in a tea shop, where he would be required to interact with people he didn't know every single day, all day long, sounded miserable, but it was work, which he desperately needed.

"I mean, you being mute'll make the whole thing a lot harder," said the woman behind the counter.

Hermann nodded miserably. Of course she wouldn't take him. He didn't know why he was expecting anything different.

"But I suppose you could work in the back. Brewing tea, and washing dishes, and sweeping floors, and stuff. You know how to brew tea? Proper tea, mind you, not just your average everyday swill."

Hermann nodded again. Of course he knew how to brew tea; learning how was an important part of a prince's etiquette lessons.

The woman behind the counter hummed thoughtfully, resting her chin on her hands. "Stick around for a while," she said finally. "You got a name?"

Hermann wrote his name on the notepad and presented it to her. He didn't see any reason to lie about his name, even though he and his sister were technically in hiding. Their names was common enough that it shouldn't be a problem.

"Hermann. Okay then. Nice to meet you. I'm Tamsin." She held out her hand to shake.

Hermann set the notepad down to shake her hand, nodding to indicate that the feeling was mutual.

"You want to order tea, or do you just wanna sit and brood for a few hours until it calms down?" Tamsin asked.

Hermann scribbled down a request for a pot of spiced black tea with honey. He didn't know if Tamsin would have it; most places in the Earth Kingdom didn't. But it was always worth a try.

"Yep, we have that," said Tamsin. "Go sit down, I'll have my minion bring you the tea when it's ready."

Hermann went and sat, feeling more hopeful than he had in a while.


	9. Chapter 9

**Year 4344**

The potluck passed without incident, fortunately, but Newt's nerves were on high alert the whole time. He had run into one person from the North Pole who'd recognized him, but they had been in Ba Sing Se about five years and so didn't know about the whole banishment thing, and Newt breathed a mental sigh of relief. He was definitely going to tell Master Lightcap about it - eventually - but he wanted to have some measure of control over when he did that. The person who had recognized him also tried to call him Ness, which was annoying as hell, but Newt had set the person straight with a hard step to the foot and a glare, and he didn't think anyone else had noticed the person's slip-up or picked up on the other name.

Sunset came and went, then moonrise, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they felt the moon cross the horizon. Slowly, the food disappeared, and as it crept closer and closer to midnight, the chattering started to die off until it was completely silent in the house apart from the soft shuffle of footsteps.

Tui and La didn't have an official shrine in Ba Sing Se, since it was an Earth city, but there were docks, and the harbor of Full Moon Bay, so they made do, walking all together in silence down to the waterfront so they could stand in the light of the moon and celebrate the height of their season until the sun started threatening to rise.

After the ceremony had ended, Newt and Master Lightcap walked back to Master Lightcap's clinic together, still in silence. The sun was just poking over the Outer Wall, so it was almost time to open the clinic, even though Newt was falling-down tired and Master Lightcap wasn't much better off, although she was hiding it better. Once they had gotten there and the door had slid shut behind them, enclosing them in the room full of the scents of Solstice incense from the previous day's work, Master Lightcap broke the silence.

"Ness?" she asked, her eyebrows raised. "Was that what that guy called you?"

Newt cursed internally. Of course Master Lightcap had heard. "Uh. It was the name I used to go by?" he tried.

"Sounds like a girl's name," said Master Lightcap.

"Well, it was my name, and I'm not a girl, so it's obviously not a girl's name," Newt said, on the edge of hysterical laughter. "It's not my name anymore, though, so I'd really appreciate it if you didn't use it for me."

Master Lightcap's eyebrows were fast approaching her hairline. "Does this have anything to do with why you know healing bending instead of combat bending?"

"Maybe," said Newt. "Look, can we not talk about this?"

"Nah," said Master Lightcap. "If there's something you've been keeping from me, I need you to not do that thing. You're my apprentice, and I should be able to trust you. Little hurt that you can't trust me like that, Newt."

Newt winced, tensing up. Nobody could do emotional blackmail like a waterbender. "It's, uh, a long story?"

"We've got time." Master Lightcap leaned against the closed door, her arms folded over her chest. "You gonna be honest with me or not, kiddo?"

Newt glanced around for an escape route, found none, then sighed, his shoulders slumped. "Just promise me you'll keep calling me Newt after I've told you?"

"Sure, I guess," said Master Lightcap. "Don't see why not."

Newt took a deep breath, shoved his hands in his pockets to conceal how much they were shaking, and began. He told her how he had grown up Ness, long-haired and treated like the girl everyone thought he was, even him, just because of his physical anatomy. He told her about how he hadn't felt right, wearing dresses and being called a young lady and all the things that came with being a girl. He told her about how he'd loved healing, loved learning about how the human body and its chi were supposed to work and what to do when they didn't, but how he'd hated the way healing was for girls and he was only learning healing because everyone thought he was a girl.

"Basically, I spent most of the time really upset about everything and really confused about why I was so upset," Newt said, halflaughing, trying to lessen the seriousness of the conversation.

Newt told her about reading endlessly through the library, trying to figure out what was wrong, and eventually finding the story, recorded decades ago, that had let everything fall into place. He told her about how disappointed Uncle Ilia had been when he'd chopped all his hair off and gone rifling through the clothing piles for pants and tunics, and how confused Uncle Ilia had been when he'd asked to be called Newt instead and treated like a guy.

"Eventually I just left, trying to get a fresh start or whatever," Newt concluded, "and that's how I came to the Earth Kingdom and that's why I know healing." He stopped talking and glanced up from the floor, where his eyes had been fixed the whole time, hesitantly meeting Master Lightcap's eyes to see what her reaction was.

Master Lightcap's eyebrows were the highest Newt had ever seen, but she didn't look like she hated him, or like she would treat him any differently now that she knew.How she looked didn't exactly mean anything, though, what with how bad Newt was at reading people. "Well, that sure explains a lot," she said. "How are you dealing with your…" She gestured vaguely to her chest, making rounded movements with her hands around her breasts.

Newt's shoulders, already tense, were starting to climb towards his ears, which were red from embarrassment. "I have a thing," he muttered. "Bandages, and stuff. It's all pretty squishable, so. Yeah. Uh. What do you mean, that explains a lot?"

"You're short," said Master Lightcap. "Especially for someone with some Earth Kingdom background, like you have. Green eyes, kiddo," she explained when Newt looked at her with confusion at how she knew that. "Not hard to tell. And it explains the whole healing thing. And how you've got a lot more extra padding than most boys your age, even Water Tribe boys."

Newt's embarrassed flush spread from his ears across his cheeks. Yeah, okay, he knew he was short and round. But Master Lightcap didn't have to point it out like that. "Gee, thanks," he muttered sarcastically.

Master Lightcap shrugged. "It's the truth. Anyway, glad to know all that, glad you told me, and so on and so forth. C'mon, time to get this place ready to open up so all the idiots who got drunk and did something dumb on Solstice can come in and have their booboos kissed better."

Newt blinked in surprise. She really wasn't going to hate him?

"And you can stop looking like I'm going to kick you," Master Lightcap added. "Or kick you out. I'm glad you were honest with me, and knowing this stuff doesn't change who you are now, or how you've behaved these past few weeks as my apprentice."

"Oh," said Newt. He hadn't been expecting that.

"Yeah, oh. Come _on_ , kiddo, let's get to work," said Master Lightcap.

Newt blinked again, absorbing the pleasant surprise, then nodded and went to go get things ready for the day.

\---

**Year 4344**

Raleigh couldn't believe what had happened. How could he have been so lucky? He got to see Mako every morning when they all got up and every evening when they all returned home. He got to see how much of a morning person she was (and her sheer _awakeness_ in the mornings reminded him of how Yancy was always up at the crack of dawn, every dawn, and he was starting to be able to think about his brother without pain and he was pretty sure that was because it was impossible to be sad with someone as awesome as Mako around) and how much of a morning person her brother _wasn't_. He got to have breakfast at the same table as her and her brother and her aunt Luna, and it was so nice being able to eat breakfast with a family again and not just by himself. He got to meet her really intimidating dad and her brother's slightly less intimidating dad, which was pretty awesome because, even if there was no war in Ba Sing Se, Raleigh knew his history, and that included the awesomeness that had been Marshall Pentecost and his second-in-command Hansen on the field against the Fire Nation.

A few weeks after the Solstice, Raleigh got a new coworker, a cranky guy named Hermann who didn't talk much - or at all, Raleigh didn't think he'd ever heard him speak - but made the most amazing tea. Customers agreed, apparently, because they were getting a lot more people into the shop than they normally did and Tamsin was looking more and more smug by the day.

That weird guy who had come around and harassed Raleigh that one time a week or so before the Solstice - Newt - came around again with more requests from his master, Healer Lightcap. Fortunately, Tamsin was in the shop this time, so she could deal with Newt, so Newt didn't get to yell at Raleigh again. Newt did, however, yell at Hermann, who had happened to be nearby and who had made a face at Newt for some reason Raleigh didn't quite get. Newt took offense to this, and then took even more offense to Hermann not responding verbally to him taking offense, and Raleigh had to shove Newt gently out the door before the two of them came to blows and maybe hurt each other. Neither of the two of them looked like much in a fight, but Raleigh knew that healers knew how to really mess someone up, and his shins had been on the wrong end of the cane Hermann used more than once.

"What an asshole," said Chuck, who was slouching around the shop after he and Mako had gotten off work for the day like he usually did.

"You're one to talk," said Raleigh.

Mako snickered. She had the most amazing laugh Raleigh had ever heard. It wasn't extraordinarily beautiful, and it didn't sound like the tinkling of tiny bells or whatever poetry always said about people's laughs, but it was always honest, and often half-stifled, as if she thought she might not be supposed to laugh at whatever it was but was laughing anyway. Her laugh was contagious, in that it made Raleigh want to smile just hearing it.

"Frost you," said Chuck.

Mako's snickering increased in volume.

"Betrayed by my own family," Chuck grumbled over-dramatically. He didn't seem to notice how Hermann, who had returned to the teapots behind the counter, flinched when he said that, but Raleigh did.He set it aside to think about later.

"Well, it is always official pick on Chuck day," said Mako, still laughing.

"True," said Raleigh.

"Absolutely," said Tamsin, who had just come out from the other half of the shop.

"You know we only mean it in fun," said Mako. "But you are kind of an asshole sometimes."

Chuck huffed in annoyance and rested his chin on his folded arms. "Whatever. Hermann understands me, right Hermann?" he called over his shoulder.

Hermann looked up from the tea he was preparing and scowled, but didn't answer beyond a shrug.

"My life is so hard," Chuck whined. "My sister laughs at me, my sister's boyfriend makes fun of me, and my sister's boyfriend's boss just eggs them on while the one other person who doesn't laugh at me just stands aside and lets them do their worst."

"I'm not her boyfriend," Raleigh objected. Mako was just a kid, and her dad was really intimidating, and besides, he didn't think of her in anything close to that way. She was incredibly cool and amazing, but contemplating kissing her in even the vaguest terms just seemed so wrong.

"Then why do you keep looking at her like that?" Chuck demanded.

"Like what?" asked Raleigh.

"Like she, I dunno, hung the moon and the stars or whatever," Chuck snapped. "It's gross and weird."

"Your _face_ is gross and weird," said Raleigh. Clearly this was the height of wit. "And if I do look at her like that, which I'm not saying I do, it's because she's really cool, a lot cooler than you could ever hope to be, not because I like her like that, so there."

"Kids, don't fight," Tamsin warned. "Or I'll kick you both out the way Newt got kicked out, and you won't be allowed to come back inside until you've proven you can behave in a reasonable manner, and Chuck, I'll tell your aunt you were being a brat. I don't want anyone fighting in my teashop. It's bad for business."

"Sorry, Tamsin," Raleigh mumbled. He really didn't want to get shoved out and possibly fired. Even if he was staying with Chuck and Mako and their Aunt Luna now, he still insisted on paying rent so as not to be too much of a burden, and this job was still the only source of income he had. It was also the only point of interaction with other people he had, and he didn't want to be all by himself again.

"Sorry, Tamsin," Chuck echoed, staring uncomfortably at the table.

"I swear, you two, getting angrier every day," said Tamsin, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "You're almost as bad as I was when I was your age."

"How bad was that?" asked Raleigh, instantly curious. He knew Tamsin had a temper, but he hardly ever saw it come out; only when a customer was being particularly obnoxious, or when they were having a particularly unlucky day with the kettles.

Tamsin chuckled, leaning back in her chair. "Oh, I was a proper dillo-lion. Practically fire-breathing, except I can't literally breathe fire, 'cause I'm not a firebender."

Chuck scowled, as he did at any mention of firebenders or the Fire Nation. "Good thing for you you're not," he grumbled. "The Dai Li'd be on you faster than a rockslide."

"Only if someone told," said Tamsin, her face suddenly going blank and pleasant, only her voice belying her upset, and that only in how pointedly light and friendly it was. "And I'd hope none of my family or friends would be cold enough to turn someone they knew in to the Dai Li as a firebender."

"But the Fire Nation are scum!" said Chuck. "We should all do our best to get their filth out of our city. Even if it's someone you know - it's not like they're real people. You're doing your duty, and that should override anything else."

Hermann flinched again, still unnoticed by the others at the table. Raleigh decided not to comment.

"Have a heart, Chuck," said Raleigh, trying to defuse the situation. "Isn't the heart of Earth supposed to be compassion?"

"I mean - this is all hypothetical anyway," Chuck said hastily. "It's not like I'd really turn someone in to the Dai Li, even if they were Fire Nation trash. That'd be a horrible thing to do, of course."

"Of course," said Tamsin, her voice still light and pleasant. "The Dai Li guard the cultural heritage of the city of Ba Sing Se, but everyone knows they're not exactly paragons of benevolence."

"Right," Chuck said uneasily. "Of course. I mean, they're not as bad as the Fire Nation, but they're still - I dunno - not people I'd wanna interact with any more than I had to, you know?"

"Just stop talking, Chuck," said Mako. "You are only digging yourself deeper into a hole."

"I'm gonna go - get some air," said Chuck. He stood, shoving his chair back, and strode quickly out the front door of the shop. He wasn't running away, not quite, but it was pretty close.

It went awkwardly silent through the shop, customers' conversations dying away in the wake of the sharp thud of the door slamming behind Chuck.

\---

**Year 4344**

Working at the tea shop was wonderful, Hermann had discovered. His fellow employee Raleigh was friendly and personable, Raleigh's friend Mako and her brother Chuck, who spent all the time that they weren't helping in their aunt's mechanic shop at Master Tamsin's tea shop, were tolerable enough, and Master Tamsin was kind, if blunt and sharp-edged about it. Not being willing to talk hardly mattered when you were making tea, and apparently his tea-making skills passed muster, even though Mother and the Fire Lord had always considered them barely adequate for a Prince. Raleigh seemed willing to talk enough for both of them, and Master Tamsin barely seemed to notice. Hermann didn't even have to interact with customers, for the most part. It was all so much better than he'd ever thought it could have been, and so much better than he could ever deserve. He kept waiting anxiously for the day when it would all go up in flames, like everything else wonderful in his life had sooner or later.

"Don't fret so much, little brother," Karla had said one evening, the two of them safely ensconced in their apartment for the night. "Your pacing will wear out the floorboards and you'll shake your hands right off your wrists if you keep wringing them like that."

Hermann had frowned at her and consciously stopped moving, holding himself perfectly still and poised, as befitted a Prince. Even if he wasn't one anymore, he could still behave in a proper way and attempt not to shame the little family he had left.

"Sit down," Karla had said. "You're making my shoulders ache just looking at you."

Hermann had sat obediently on his mattress, holding his cane steadily across his knees.

"Look, there's no use worrying," Karla had said. "What will be will be, and we can't do anything about it until it happens. So relax. We're safe here."

Hermann had frowned more. Safe from the Fire Lord's forces, yes. But if the Dai Li found out they were Fire Nation, neither of them would see another dawn.

Karla had sighed. "Okay, fine, fret yourself into oblivion. Just…don't forget that you don't have to suffer in silence, or whatever. I'm your sister. I'm here to listen, if you want to talk to me about anything."

Hermann had raised his eyebrows. He still hadn't been able to force himself to speak, or indeed to make noise beyond a few annoyed huffs of breath. How, precisely, did Karla think he would talk to her about anything if he wasn't talking at all?

Karla had rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. Write it down if you have to. Just don't bottle it up like you always do. Worry shared is worry halved, and all that."

Hermann had shrugged. He hadn't wanted to burden Karla more than he already had. He still hadn't figured out how to repay her for saving him, and it would have been a poor repayment to load more worries on her shoulders.

Karla had shrugged back. "Or not, okay. But just remember I'm here for you, and stuff."

Hermann had nodded, then doused the lamp for the night.

So yes, working for Master Tamsin was incredible, and Hermann could hardly believe his luck. That was, until the day that scruffy healer's apprentice Newt came into the shop with a list of herbs from his master and took offense to Hermann's expression for some reason.

"You got a problem with me or something?" Newt demanded.

Hermann just looked at him skeptically, eyebrows raised, and shook his head.

"What's that face for, then, huh?" said Newt.

Hermann shrugged. He didn't know what face Newt was referring to, so he could hardly explain what it was "for".

"The hell's your problem? Answer me!" said Newt, the pitch and volume of his voice both starting to increase.

Hermann frowned and narrowed his eyes, tightening his grip on the head of his cane. He would have answered if he could, preferably loudly, annoyedly, and with the sharpest of wit, but even now his voice refused to cooperate with him.

"I said answer me! You mute or something?" said Newt.

Hermann rolled his eyes and shook his head. He wasn't mute, not really, even if that was the easiest explanation for his absurd inability to push words out of his throat.

Newt sneered. "Spirits, you're obnoxious. Why the hell won't you answer me, then?"

Hermann's eyebrows shot up. Obnoxious? Him? Newt was the obnoxious one here, and he indicated as much by gesturing to himself, then to Newt, with accompanying facial expressions that he hoped conveyed his message.

Apparently, it did, because Newt threw his hands up. "Ugh! What the hell is even your _problem_ , man, you haven't answered that yet!"

Hermann's problem was Newt, so he pointed at Newt to indicate that.

Newt screeched and balled his hands into fists, and Hermann tightened his grip on his cane again in preparation for a possible fight, at which point Raleigh took Newt by the shoulder.

"Please leave," said Raleigh, looking worried. "Fighting isn't allowed in here." He tugged gently on Newt's shoulder, trying to indicate that Newt should exit the shop.

Newt huffed loudly. "Fine! Fine. I'll leave. But I'll be back pretty soon, because Master Lightcap will actually kill me if I come back without the herbs she sent me out for."

"As long as you don't come back before you've cooled off," Raleigh said, then started leading Newt carefully outside. Newt went without much more protest, and Hermann returned to the pots of brewing tea behind the counter.

"What an asshole," said Chuck, who had been sitting at a table with his sister watching the whole thing happen.

Mako, Raleigh, and Master Tamsin started teasing Chuck, and Hermann tried to keep his head down and breathe slowly and evenly, although he couldn't help flinching when betrayal by family was mentioned, then beating himself up for flinching at the slightest hint at what had happened. How weak of him. He should be able to do better than that.

Then Chuck started on about how the Fire Nation were scum, filth, trash, and Hermann felt his shoulders creeping up around his ears. He shouldn't care what some idiot said about his people - who probably weren't even his people anymore, since he'd been banished. He shouldn't care that some idiot would turn him and his sister in to the Dai Li if the idiot knew what they were. He shouldn't care about any of it, and yet he did. Listening to such vitriol made him feel sick.

He kept breathing slow and even, forcing his hands to be steady as he poured cups of tea and measured out more tea leaves for new pots, forcing his mind to focus entirely on the fairly simple task. It didn't matter. It didn't matter. It didn't matter.

Finally, Chuck slammed out of the front door, and Hermann heaved a quiet sigh of relief, setting the tea scoop down for a second and gripping the edge of the counter tightly. Everything was fine. Everything was okay. Nothing was on fire that shouldn't be, even if the flames of the stove were flaring suspiciously in time with his breathing.

He took a deep breath, straightened up, and smoothed over his emotions. He was at work. He had to at least pretend to be professional.It didn't matter. Even if he had trusted Chuck as a kindred spirit in crankiness. Even if it hurt. It didn't matter.

It didn't matter.


	10. Chapter 10

**Year 4345**

Clocks all around the city struck midnight, ringing in the new year. Near the Earth King's palace and throughout all three Rings, the fireworks all started going off, brilliant and loud against the darkness of the night sky.

A new year meant a new start. New, shiny beginnings, with all the possibility contained in such things. A new year meant a breaking away from the trials and misfortunes of the old.

A new year meant a crack in the boundaries separating the past and the future, a crack in the boundaries separating hope and regret…a crack in the boundaries separating the mortal world from that of the spirits.

In the clanging of bells and the whistles and booms of fireworks, something slipped through those cracks. Though the city was enveloped in celebration, that something's intentions were nowhere near so joyous.

In the shadows created by the fireworks' bright flashes and in the silence between the clangs of the bells, something waited hungrily for anyone idiot enough or drunk enough to stumble into its clutches.

A clatter of incautious footsteps. The slow drip of melting snow.

A scream, muffled and then abruptly cut off.

Through its many fangs, something grinned, and slunk off to find its next meal.

\---

**Year 4345**

Two days after the New Year, Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen left with their client. Mako didn't want her dad to leave, but she understood that he had to, because his work was not in Ba Sing Se. That didn't mean that she didn't cry; she had missed her dad over the months they had been apart, and she had really liked having him around again. Family was important, and she wanted to be near hers, and it sucked that she couldn't be because she was trying to be responsible and give her dad fewer things to worry about and let herself and Chuck grow up in one place without having to meet a whole bunch of new people every few weeks.

Chuck tried to pretend he wasn't crying as he hugged his dad goodbye, but he wasn't doing a very good job of pretending. He ran away to his and Mako's and Raleigh's room after Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen had left, and Mako didn't think he would appreciate sympathetic pats to the shoulder or hugs or anything, so she left him alone.

After the door had closed behind them, Mako flopped onto the pile of cushions set up in the corner out of the way, where Raleigh had been sitting quietly and uncomfortably the whole time.

"You okay?" asked Raleigh.

Mako nodded. She was, really. She was upset, sure, but she was okay.

"You want a hug?" asked Raleigh.

Mako nodded, the scooted over to direct her flopping at Raleigh's shoulders for a hug. Hugs were always great, and Raleigh was actually warm, unlike everybody else Mako knew.

"Hi," said Raleigh, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her.

"Hi," said Mako. "Do you miss your family?" It was kind of an abrupt question, but talking about someone else's family would take her mind off missing her dad and Chuck's dad.

Raleigh shrugged. "Yeah."

"Why'd you and your brother leave?" asked Mako.

Raleigh shrugged. "To give our mom a break, I guess. She works really hard, and we didn't want to put even more of a burden on her than was already there."

"Oh," said Mako. She understood that, she guessed.

"Why'd you and Chuck come here?" Raleigh asked.

"It was kind of a similar reason," said Mako. "Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen travel a lot as part of their job, and it was hard for Chuck and me always moving from place to place and having to meet and get used to new people every few weeks and never getting to settle down anywhere."

"Oh," said Raleigh.

"And it was hard on Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen too," said Mako. "They always had to worry about keeping us safe along with having to worry about keeping their clients safe. It was my suggestion," she added. She was still very proud of having come up with the idea all by herself.

"Lucky you guys had family here," said Raleigh.

"Yes," said Mako. It was lucky. Mako would not have liked to have had to try to work out how to live on her own with only Chuck for help. Chuck was all right, as brothers went, but he was kind of useless in a lot of ways, and Mako was pretty sure that if she and Chuck had tried to be by themselves together they would have killed each other or, worse, ended up hating each other. "Where does the rest of your familylive?"

Raleigh hesitated before answering, seeming reluctant to do so. "Pretty far away. On the west coast of the continent."

"Oh," said Mako. She knew, from what her dad had taught her about the history and geography of the Earth Kingdom, that most of the west coast had been occupied by the Fire Nation, but she wasn't going to say that here, in Ba Sing Se. And since Raleigh hadn't mentioned what village he was from, which Earth Kingdom people tended to do, she could guess that he wasn't from one of the unoccupied ones. She wondered how a colonial like Raleigh had been able to get into Ba Sing Se -according to what she'd heard from Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen, the paperwork was a huge hassle, even for people from the Earth Kingdom like Chuck and Mako. "Do you have any siblings besides your brother?"

"I have a little sister, Jasmine," said Raleigh. "She's - she'd be eight, by now." He wrapped his arms more tightly around Mako. "She's a real terror."

"That's good," said Mako.

"Yeah," said Raleigh.

It was snowing outside again, Mako noticed. She hadn't ever been in a place during the winter where it snowed a lot. She was finding that she really liked snow, even though it was cold and wet and soaked into her socks over the tops of her boots and made her feet uncomfortable. It was pretty, and dumping snow down the back of Chuck's clothes was really funny.She hummed contentedly and cuddled closer to Raleigh, watching the snow fall quietly beyond the shutters of Aunt Luna's apartment.

\---

**Year 4345**

"Snowing again," Karla remarked, peeking out of the shutters of their apartment into the darkness of the hours before dawn.

Wrapped up in about three blankets, Hermann hissed. He knew it was snowing. It had been snowing off and on for the past several weeks. He hated the snow. It was cold, and damp, and blinding when the sun hit it, and blinding when the wind stirred it up, and it was hard to walk in, and it hid patches of ice that his feet and cane slipped on more easily than he would really like to admit. Mostly, it was cold, and he was spending a lot more of his chi just keeping his hands and feet warm enough to avoid frostbite than he wanted to think about. He and Karla were starting to run out of money, and they couldn't afford warmer socks and gloves and clothes without dipping into the money they had set aside for emergencies. Fuel for their little stove was expensive too. The jewelry store Karla worked in was heated, as was Tamsin's tea shop, so neither of them had any trouble through most of the day, but coming home, their little apartment was cold enough to make them wince. At least it was out of the wind.

Karla laughed. "Yeah, I know, I know, the snow is not your friend. C'mon, little brother, time to get up."

Hermann hissed again. He knew it was time to get up. It was cold outside of his blanket nest, though, so he really didn't want to.

"Hermann," Karla sighed, and Hermann immediately felt guilty for making her nag him. He was enough of a burden already without being contrary and obstreperous in addition to everything else.

Grumbling, he shrugged off his blankets, grabbing for the heat of the stove and breathing it into his blood to keep warm. That would hold until he got to work. Generally, people didn't notice the extra warmth he sunk into his muscles and bones, since he jealously guarded any heat he was able to steal under his skin so it didn't escape. And he wore enough clothing that no one would notice anyway, even if they bumped into him.

With the snow thick on the ground, he had to get up earlier than usual, because the walk to work took longer than usual, because he had to go slower than usual or risk falling, which would take even more time and be very painful and tiresome. In the dark of winter, with the sun hiding away from the world for longer, getting up in the morning at the usual time was already hard enough; getting up earlier made Hermann practically cranky enough to breathe fire. Since literally breathing fire would get him dragged under Lake Laogai faster than he could blink, he had to channel his grumpiness into heating the teapots at work and his own toes and fingers. At least anger kept him warm that way.

On the way to work in the chill and the dark, Hermann could have sworn he saw flashes of movement in the shadows, heard the dripping of melting snow a little louder than it should have been.

But it was probably nothing, so he dismissed it in favor of getting to work in as little time as he safely could.

\---

**Year 4345**

Newt loved the snow. He loved how quiet and dark it got in the winter, he loved the glint of moonlight on falling snow, he loved the chill that reminded him of home. Summers were weird; he still hadn't really adjusted to the fact that there were times when there wasn't snow, when the temperature climbed above freezing. Winter reassured him, reminded him that ice and snow still existed. And having piles of spare water lying around was such a reassurance, just in case.

There was also that new employee at the herbalist's Master Lightcap liked, the one with a face like a frog with a bad case of indigestion who hadn't deemed him worthy of being spoken to. Newt hadn't caught his name the last time he'd been there; he'd been too busy staring at the graceful way the employee had carried himself.

Then the employee had sneered at him for whatever reason - it could have been anything, Newt held no illusions about how many things there were about him that anyone could have sneered at - Newt had gotten upset, things had escalated, and Newt had been chivvied back out into the snow without further ado. He'd gone back in, of course - Master Lightcap would have killed him if he'd returned without the herbs she'd sent him out for - but he'd given it a good half-hour so everyone could cool off a little. It had beena good time to meditate, anyway, just standing in the snow and watching his breath condense in the frozen air.

Master Lightcap's clinic had been busy lately with winter colds, bumps and bruises from slipping on ice, a few minor cases of frostbite and hypothermia. But Newt still had time to go hang out with the other waterbenders in the city sometimes, the few of them that he'd met and gotten along with for more than a few minutes at a time at the Solstice potluck. He'd tried dating one of them, even, but it hadn't worked out - they hadn't really been compatible. But they'd still had fun on their few dates, holding hands and cuddling and making out a little and generally keeping warm together.

So, good weather, check; interesting new person to look at appreciatively, check; actual community with actual waterbenders that didn't hate him yet, check. Things were pretty awesome.

So of course this was when everything went wrong.

It hadn't been much of anything at first; just the slow dripping of melting snow and ice, amongst a lot of snow and ice, and the occasional odd shadowy flicker in the corner of Newt's eye when he was walking home late at night or walking to work in the gloom before dawn. He'd dismissed the flickers as exhaustion talking; sure, he liked to be up at night as much as any other waterbender, but he hadn't been getting as much sleep as he would've liked lately what with the clinic hours Master Lightcap kept.

Then the shadowy flickers had started getting more prominent. They'd crept further into visibility, hovering for longer just out of sight. The drip, drip, drip, drip, drip of melting ice got louder every evening as the new moon approached, until Newt started swearing he could hear it even when there was no snow or ice anywhere nearby.

Then he started to worry about it. Lamp oil was expensive, especially if you didn't want stuff that reeked of death, but he started keeping a lamp burning all night. He figured that if it was a kamuiy of ice and snow, as it seemed to be, what with the endless dripping of thawing icicles, fire would keep it away long enough for him to find out what it was, at least.

And Newt was incredibly curious what it was. Most of the kamuiy he was familiar with were spirits of the deep freeze, of the tundra and the permafrost, of the cold oceans of the North Pole. He'd run into a few other kinds in his years in the Earth Kingdom, but he'd never managed to find a library, or to stick around in one place long enough to find out what they were called or what they did. This didn't seem to be of the polar ice, or of the dust and dirt of the Earth Kingdom; maybe it was something in between, neither one nor another, just like him.

It probably wasn't friendly, though, which was a shame. Most kamuiy weren't. Some were just indifferent, and if you didn't fuck up too badly they'd leave you alone. Most were at least a little malevolent, though, and if they got close enough…

Well. There was a reason the first thing you learned as a waterbender, whether in combat or healing, was how to keep a bit of distance between yourself and the water. There were too many kamuiy of the deepest oceans that were dangerous enough on their own, but with a bender to possess they were nearly unstoppable.

Once the dripping started getting prominent enough that he felt like he had to keep a lamp burning all night, he brought it up to Master Lightcap. She was a master waterbender, after all, and probably knew a lot more about kamuiy, especially the ones that haunted Ba Sing Se, than he did.

"Dripping? Seriously?" she asked, incredulous. "It's the second month of the year. There's snow and ice everywhere. You're a _waterbender_ . There _should_ be dripping all over the place."

"But it's there even when it shouldn't be," Newt protested. "Like, even when I'm inside, far away from any icicles or anything, I can still hear it as if it's right next to me. And I've checked the sink and everything else, and they're not doing the dripping. So I thought it might be something other than actual water. Like a kamuiy or something."

Master Lightcap raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"I don't know," said Newt, starting to regret bringing it up. "I'm probably just being paranoid."

"Well, I haven't heard of any kamuiy that sound like dripping water," Master Lightcap said slowly. "But that doesn't mean they don't exist. I haven't heard of every spirit out there, after all. You could ask the Dai Li; they're the experts on spirits, and they have whole libraries' worth of scrolls and books about them."

Newt winced. The Dai Li were creepy, and everyone knew that if you so much as breathed a word about the war, they'd be on you faster than ice on snow and you'd never be heard from again. He really didn't want to go to them on purpose, especially about something he wasn't sure he wasn't just imagining in the first place. Besides, he hardly knew how you'd go about finding a Dai Li, other than standing in the middle of the street and shouting "Fire Nation" until they came to arrest you, and that would be stupid.

Master Lightcap shrugged. "Well, either go to the Dai Li or quit worrying about it. If they're doing their job right, they should already have an eye on the kamuiy, if there is one and you're not just imagining it. In any case, apprentice, back to work with you. You need more practice setting bones."

Newt nodded, bowed politely, and went back to work. If there was a kamuiy, he wouldn't know for certain until it bit him, and even if there wasn't, burning a lamp at night for the next few weeks couldn't hurt anything but his pocket. The Dai Li would probably take care of it. That was their job, after all.Nothing to worry about.

Nothing at all.

\---

**Year 4345**

Cloaked in shadows, something smiled wide, its fangs glinting damply. Sure, the prey kept fire nearby when it slept and it had the protection of the older water-in-fleshduring the day. But in the evenings, after the sun had set, when the prey was walking home, it was unprotected. Alone. Vulnerable.

Of course, the prey was suspicious; something had been less than cautious in approaching its prey, impatient to strike and feed. It would not do to strike too quickly or too obviously, however, lest the prey know for certain and go to those idiot earth-in-flesh that carried the scent of iron on them.

But something knew that soon, soon, the prey would be its. All something had to do was wait.

And something was very, very good at waiting.

\---

**Year 4345**

Raleigh sighed in frustration. That obnoxious healer's apprentice Newt- and seriously, what kind of a name was Newt, anyway? - was back again with a list from his master and a trying-to-be-seductive grin for Raleigh's coworker, who was studiously ignoring him in favor of the teapots. Raleigh couldn't blame Hermann. But he really hoped that this time wouldn't end the same way the last time had.

Fortunately, Tamsin was able to step in and intercept Newt quickly enough that he couldn't get in another one-sided fight with Hermann. But everyone who had been there the last time Newt had come in breathed a quiet sigh of relief once he left.

Although there was something odd. Though Raleigh could have sworn that Newt's clothes were dry, he'd heard a quiet dripping sound as long as Newt stood in the shop. Then again, Raleigh hadn't exactly inspected the hems of Newt's pants for dampness, so he could have missed something. And there were those piles of snow outside, although most of the streets had been cleared by the constant traffic of people and carts. Raleigh wouldn't have put it past someone like Newt to jump through snowdrifts just because he could. And Newt _was_ a waterbender, or at least apprenticing under a waterbending healer, so water-like sounds might be to be expected. And Raleigh might have been imagining it. It was probably nothing.

Nothing at all.

\---

**Year 4345**

The dripping kept getting louder.Newt was really starting to get worried about it. But what was he going to do? He was just one waterbender, after all, all by himself in the big city, far away from his family and community and home. Master Lightcap wasn't able to help him. Even the few waterbenders he'd made friends with didn't want to hang around with him anymore, and they probably didn't know any more than Master Lightcap might. He couldn't go to the Dai Li - they were terrifying, and why would they want to help a lowly little healer's apprentice anyway?

He tried to tell himself that he was just being paranoid about the dripping. It was just a noise, after all. And if it really was a malevolent kamuiy, wouldn't it have made its move before now? They weren't exactly known for their patience. And it had been at least two weeks since he'd started hearing the dripping more consistently. What kind of kamuiy would lie in wait for prey for two weeks before striking?

Newt was pretty sure he didn't want to find out. Except he did, he really, really did, he wanted to know more and more and more and _everything_ that he could about kamuiy and he didn't know anything about this one except that it dripped and flickered in the edges of his senses. He wanted to know its name, and what it wanted that it would stalk a pathetic, lonely little waterbender like himself for so long. He wanted to know how to drive it away, although lately the dripping had been his only constant companion and he was starting to think he didn't want it to go away. It would be weird, he thought, without that constant sound in the corner of his hearing, just loud enough that it never quite became part of the background.

Hestill kept the lamp burning during the night, though. He wasn't stupid. Lonely, yes, but not stupid. Not _that_ stupid, anyway.

But lamp oil _was_ so expensive, and it had been such a long time that he'd been on edge, and he was basically just throwing this oil away.

Finally, one night after a particularly long day at Master Lightcap's clinic, he fell into bed without lighting the lamp. He half-contemplated getting up and fetching the lamp and the oil and a match, but he was so very tired. Surely one night without the lamp wouldn't hurt.

He fell asleep with the lamp still unlit.

\---

**Year 4345**

Something rejoiced. Finally, _finally_ , the prey had fallen asleep unprotected! Finally it could strike and take what rightfully belonged to it! Its wait was over at last, when it had been so hungry, and now it had what it had stalked and hunted and pursued so carefully for so long!

Something's teeth gleamed in the light of the waxing moon as it flickered through the shadows up the wall to the window and finally inside. It reached out one clawed limb, stroked the prey's face, and pounced.

Dead to the world, the prey noticed nothing.

Nothing at all.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Year 4345**

Initially, Caitlin Lightcap didn't fret when her apprentice didn't show up for work. Newt was pretty fond of sleeping, after all, and he'd showed up late before, and it had been a long and difficult day yesterday. It was probably nothing to worry about, even if he had been upset about that weird dripping noise that Caitlin had also started hearing every so often but which she had dismissed as nothing important.

As the hours passed with no sign of Newt, however, she started to be a little more concerned. When he hadn't showed up by lunch time, she started to worry.

She had his address on file from when she'd sorted out his apprentice's license, so she figured she'd go there and check whether or not he had just forgotten to wake up that morning before she really started freaking out. It would be such a hassle if she went and bothered either the Dai Li or the City Guard over something that turned out to be nothing, even if she hadn't spoken with Sergeant D'Onofrio, who she was pretty fond of, in a while and this would be a good excuse to do so.

Still, if it was nothing, which it probably was, she didn't want to stir up a fuss or cause mass terror. Nothing scared people like malevolent kamuiy, and if she went to the Guard station, she would indubitably be overheard, word would spread, and everyone would panic. If it were warranted, okay, yeah, she'd go to the Guard and risk freaking people out, but for now she'd just go check on him by herself. She was a master waterbender. She could handle one little kamuiy, if it even was a kamuiy.

She arrived at his apartment and knocked. No answer. When she tried the door, it was unlocked, and beyond it, the apartment was empty apart from a puddle of water under open window.

Well. Okay. So it was a kamuiy. That was more likely than Newt skipping out without a word, leaving his window open behind him, and leaving a puddle on the floor.

Still, Caitlin wasn't going to let herself freak out. That wouldn't be productive. She'd go to the Guard, who would contact the Dai Li, and then she would go to her friend Tamsin's tea shop and sit quietly for a while until her hands stopped shaking and she could think about what she would do next. When had they started shaking? She didn't know. It wasn't important, though. What was important was finding this creature that had dared to mess with her family and making sure it could never hurt anybody else ever again and hopefully making it rue the day it had brought itself to her attention in the process.

She dusted her hands off and went to the Guard station. She reported Newt missing, possibly stolen by a malevolent kamuiy that sounded like dripping water. The Guard sent a messenger to the Dai Li to report the kamuiy part of that and see what they would do about it. The Dai Li sent a pair of agents to listen to her report again and compare it to the reports they'd gotten since the New Year of dripping sounds where they shouldn't be combined with people suddenly going missing. Apparently, there had been several of those reports.

"Trust us, Healer Lightcap," the taller Dai Li agent said seriously. "We're as upset about this as you are, and we'll do everything in our power to destroy this kamuiy before it can do any more damage. The peace and safety of Ba Sing Se is our responsibility, after all."

Caitlin nodded. The Dai Li were terrifying, but they were good at their job.

"We'll just have to ask you to stay out of it," the shorter Dai Li agent said superciliously. "We don't need civilians getting in our line of fire."

"That thing took my apprentice," Caitlin said, angry that they would even try to keep her safely out of the way like that, like she wasn't a capable bender in her own right. It reminded her of the reason she'd left the North Pole in the first place, all those years ago. "I would really prefer to see it flattened myself, and ideally have a hand in the flattening."

"If it preys on waterbenders specifically, you could be more of a liability than an assistance," said the shorter Dai Li agent. "And we would hate for a lovely person such as yourself to get hurt doing something that should be our job. There's a reason the Dai Li exist, after all. Spirits can be dangerous." He smiled, smooth as ice concealed under snow.

"A person such as myself?" asked Caitlin, her eyebrows up and her tone dangerous. If this agent even hinted that she couldn't fight spirits just because she was a woman, he would be in ice up to his neck before he could blink. "What kind of person is that, exactly?"

The shorter Dai Li agent opened his mouth to speak, but the taller one interrupted him with, "A healer. There are few enough good ones in the city already. We'd hate to lose one that, according to Sergeant D'Onofrio here, is one of the best in the city."

Caitlin glanced at D'Onofrio, but he seemed determined to emulate a wall. "Very well," she said, her tone still cool but not as frozen as before. "Keep me informed, though."

"Of course," said the taller Dai Li agent. "We wouldn't dream of leaving you in the dark about the progress of a matter as important to you as this one clearly is."

"Thanks," Caitlin said shortly. She wasn't happy with not being allowed to help, but the agents pretty clearly weren't going to budge.

"Please keep yourself safe, ma'am," said the shorter Dai Li agent. "Do you have family in the city?"

"Not really," said Caitlin. Sure, there were the other waterbenders, and they were great, but too long in their company and they started really getting on her nerves. Besides, if this thing _did_ prey on waterbenders, there was no sense panicking them, and especially no sense in putting all of the targets in one place.

"Stay with friends, then," the shorter Dai Li agent suggested. "If it's a water spirit, it most likely hunts by increasing feelings of loneliness in its victims - "

"I do know something about water spirits, thanks," said Caitlin, annoyed at the patronizing tone.

"Of course," said the taller Dai Li agent. "In any case, it would probably be a good idea to remind yourself of the community that you have. Or, at the very least, don't be by yourself for the next few days, until we catch this creature."

"Of course," said Caitlin. She'd been planning on going to see Tamsin anyway.

"Where will we be able to reach you?" asked the taller Dai Li agent. "In order to keep you informed on the progress of our investigation."

Caitlin gave them the address of Tamsin's tea shop, thanked them for their help, then left. She went to her clinic first, to clean up for the day and put a CLOSED FOR THE REST OF THE DAY sign on her front door so people wouldn't come in for help and not be able to find it. She'd come back tomorrow for the morning if she hadn't heard from the Dai Li by then, since it would be irresponsible to close completely just because her apprentice was missing. People needed help, and she could provide that help, so she should provide that help and not avoid all her responsibilities like a frightened child.

After she had finished closing up, she went to Tamsin's shop. She hadn't been there in a few months, since she'd been sending Newt over to collect her purchases of herbs and teas now that she had a minion to do the fetching and carrying, and she'd really been missing her friend.

"Caitlin!" Tamsin greeted her, coming out from behind the counter of the apothecary side of her shop, arms opening automatically for a hug. "How are you? I haven't seen you in forever! Did you run out of herbs again already? Your apprentice was just here last week."

Caitlin hugged her friend, enjoying the warmth of another body against her own. "No, Tam, I have all the plant matter I could possibly wish for. I'm just here for a cup of tea."

"Of course, of course," said Tamsin, letting her go and leading her by the hand through the middle of the long, narrow shop and out into the tea shop half, where she sat down with Caitlin at one of the empty tables. "Raleigh!" she called to one of her two employees, neither of which she'd had the last time Caitlin had been here. "A pot of the peppermint ginseng, two cups!"

"On it," the employee, whose name was apparently Raleigh, called back. "Hermann, peppermint ginseng," he said to the other employee, who made a noise of acknowledgement.

"You remembered my favorite," Caitlin said, pleased.

"Of course," said Tamsin. "Now tell me what's wrong. This isn't just a social call, you look too worried for that, and besides, it's during your normal clinic hours. You said yourself you didn't need to stock up on herbs, so it's not a business call, and you've been sending your apprentice to do those anyway. So obviously there's something wrong, and you should tell me about it. Worry shared is worry halved, after all."

Caitlin sighed. "My apprentice is missing," she said.

"Missing like he ran off without telling you and you need to hunt him down and yell at him for breaking your deal like that, or missing like he's disappeared and you need to hunt him down and yell at him for worrying you like that?" asked Tamsin.

"The second one," said Caitlin. "It's a kamuiy."

"Spirits," said Tamsin, looking shocked. "You're sure?"

"Yep," said Caitlin. "The Dai Li told me they've had several reports of people going missing accompanied by the sound of dripping water where it shouldn't be, which is what Newt told me he was hearing."

"So you _have_ informed the authorities," said Tamsin.

"Yeah," said Caitlin. "Apparently I'm supposed to stay safe like a good little healer and they'll tell me when they've kicked its ass." She still wasn't pleased about that.

"Wow," said Tamsin, shaking her head. "And you didn't encase them in ice?"

"Nah, too much effort," said Caitlin. "And they do know more about kamuiy than I do, so I figured I might as well let them actually do their job."

"You've gotten a lot calmer over the years," said Tamsin.

"I know," said Caitlin. "Must be that whole steady employment thing. Or maybe the teaching thing, that really settles you down."

"Next you'll be telling me you're getting married," Tamsin joked.

Caitlin shook her head. "Not yet."

"Oh, thank Agni," said Tamsin, a hand clutched to her chest in mock relief.

Caitlin grinned. "What about you? You decided to let that mechanic make an honest woman of you yet?"

Tamsin shook her head several times. "Luna and I still haven't really settled out what we are to each other, much less whether or not we're going to keep being that for the rest of our lives."

"Well, it's good to take these things slowly, sometimes," said Caitlin. "It is the rest of your life you're talking about."

"Yeah," said Tamsin.

They went quiet for a while, then Raleigh, who Caitlin was pretty sure looked too young to be working for a living, brought the tea over with two cups. "It's good to meet you, Healer Lightcap," he said politely. "I've heard a lot about you from Tamsin."

"Only good, I hope," said Caitlin.

"Oh, don't worry, I haven't been slandering your good name," said Tamsin. "Your apprentice's been doing that just fine on his own."

Caitlin groaned. "Oh dear. Do I want to know?"

Raleigh and Tamsin looked at each other. "Go on, Raleigh," said Tamsin. "You were there both times he made a fuss."

"Oh La," said Caitlin, resting her forehead on the table.

"Well," said Raleigh, "the first time he came in, Tamsin was out with Miss Luna and her niece and nephew."

"Luna has a family?" asked Caitlin, picking her head up and glancing at Tamsin. She hadn't spoken to Luna since the previous summer. _Wow_ , she thought, _I need to get out and socialize more if I'm gonna keep missing things like this._

Tamsin nodded. "Her brother and his partner have two kids. Sweet little ones, although the boy's kind of a brat."

Raleigh snorted.

"Well, okay, a lot of a brat," said Tamsin."Anyway, go on, Raleigh."

"So Tamsin was out when he came in," said Raleigh. "And he didn't seem to think I was competent enough to fill your order by myself, so he kept demanding to talk to Tamsin even though I'd told him she was out."

Caitlin thumped her head back down on the table again.

"Finally, I got back," said Tamsin. "Wasn't any fuss past then."

"What about the second time?" asked Caitlin, not sure she really wanted to hear.

"Well," said Tamsin. "You see my other minion, over there?" She waved towards the behind-the-counter area, where a young man was tending the kettles and teapots.

"Yeah," said Caitlin.

"His name's Hermann. He doesn't talk," said Tamsin. "I think he's mute. Communicates just fine, but doesn't do the making the words with the air and the throat thing. Grouchy little shit, but he makes good tea. Anyway, so your apprentice came in, and _someone_ took offense. Not sure which of them took it first, but your apprentice started shouting and Raleigh here had to show him out to cool off for a while."

Caitlin lifted her head, then dropped it back on the table. "Tui and La forgive me," she groaned. "I could have sworn he had manners. Guess I'll have to teach him that, too, when I get him back."

"Get him back?" asked Raleigh, who was still hovering by the table, not having any other customers to tend to. "Where'd he go?"

Caitlin shrugged, finally picking up her teacup and sipping at it. "No idea. Idiot got himself snapped up by a kamuiy."

"What kind of kamuiy?" asked Raleigh.

"No idea," Caitlin said again. "It drips, and it likes waterbenders. That's why I'm here, actually," she said to Tamsin. "Reminding myself that I'm not alone and stuff, so it can't get me too."

"Well, you know you're always welcome," said Tamsin. "Waterbender-hungry kamuiy on your heels or no. You should bring your apprentice around in a casual capacity sometime so we can teach him manners. Or just come by yourself. It's nice to see you outside of you buying herbs and stuff."

"Mmhm," said Caitlin. "I'll try." She sipped her tea again. It was even better than she remembered from the last time she'd had that particular blend.

"Still your favorite?" asked Tamsin.

"It's even better than I remember," said Caitlin, smiling at Tamsin.

"Told you the grumpy little shit makes good tea," Tamsin said smugly.

"Yep," said Caitlin.

The door to the shop opened, tinkling the little bell, and three people came in. Raleigh went off to go greet the two children, receiving hugs from both of them and then going with both of them to another table, and the adult came over to Caitlin and Tamsin's table.

"Hi Luna," said Tamsin, standing to give her a kiss on the cheek and receive one in return. "You remember Caitlin Lightcap."

"Of course," said Luna. "It hasn't been that long." She and Tamsin sat down. "It's good to see you again, Caitlin. We never talk." She smiled at Caitlin.

"Damn shame," said Caitlin, smiling back. "Guess I kind of let work take over my life."

Tamsin elbowed Caitlin. "Like I said, you should come in more often. We miss having you around."

"Like I said, I'll try," said Caitlin. "Luna, how have you been? I hear you're looking after Stacker's kids these days."

"Yes," said Luna. "Although only Mako's his - the girl. He adopted her when she was very young. I'm not sure precisely where she's from originally, but she is an earthbender, so it must be somewhere in the Earth Kingdom. The boy, Chuck, is Hercules's, but he and Mako consider each other siblings."

"Why aren't they with Stacker and Herc, then?" asked Caitlin.

"Well, you know how much they travel," said Luna. "What with their job, and all."

"Yeah," said Caitlin. "Too much for the little ones?"

"As I heard it," said Luna.

"Raleigh, bring us another cup for Luna," Tamsin called across the shop.

"Okay," Raleigh called back from where he was conversing with the other children, who, Caitlin realized, must have been Mako and Chuck.

"Thank you, Raleigh," Luna said when a third cup appeared on the table. "Anyway, they've been very helpful in the shop - small hands and young eyes for small work, you know, and they're both very eager to learn."

"That's good to hear," said Caitlin.

"And Raleigh's been living with us too, since the Solstice," Luna continued.

"Turned out the kid was living on his own," said Tamsin. "He and his older brother left home a few years ago, apparently, trying to go make their fortunes in Ba Sing Se or whatever it is young people do these days. Anyway, the brother died on the road, so Raleigh was left by himself in the big city. I hired him out of pity, you know?"

"In any case, as soon as we found out he had no support structure, I insisted that he come and live with us," said Luna. "I have yet to convince Tamsin to join our merry little family as well, but I'm working on her."

"Darling, you can work on me all you like," Tamsin said with a wink in Luna's direction.

Caitlin snickered. "It's good to see you're as forward as ever, Tam," she said.

"Damn straight," said Tamsin.

Luna sighed. "I still don't quite understand why you insist on living by yourself in that tiny little hole you call an apartment. You're as stubborn as my brother sometimes."

Tamsin shrugged. "If my explanations haven't made sense yet, they're probably not going to ever," she said. "Anyway, I like having my space. It would be weird to impose on what you and the kids have going on."

"It wouldn't be weird," said Luna. "It would be nice."

"Whatever you say," said Tamsin. Both she and Luna had the air of two people who had had this argument many times before.

Just then, Raleigh, Mako, and Chuck came over to Tamsin, Caitlin, and Luna's table.

"We want to help," said Mako.

"With what?" asked Caitlin.

"Getting your apprentice back, of course," said Mako, as if it were obvious.

"Absolutely not," said Luna. "This is too dangerous for children as young as you three are."

"We're not children!" Chuck protested.

"Shut up, you're like, twelve," said Tamsin, tilting her chair back on two legs.

"I'm thirteen!" said Chuck.

"Kids, I'm sorry, but there's nothing we're allowed to do,"Caitlin said firmly. "The Dai Li are dealing with it. They don't like civilians getting in the way."

"And you don't even like Newt," said Tamsin.

"But nobody should get eaten by spirits," said Mako. She looked genuinely upset, as if some waterbender she barely knew possibly getting eaten by a kamuiy was a personal affront. "It's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair," said Tamsin, returning her chair legs to the floor. "Go on, kids. Nothing you can do. Don't worry about Newt, he'll be fine. Probably. And even if he won't, there's still nothing you can do."

Mako looked like she wanted to say something to that, but she bit her lip and stomped quietly back to the table she, Chuck, and Raleigh had been sitting at. The boys followed her, Chuck throwing the three adults a dirty look over his shoulder as he went.

"Those three are gonna get themselves in trouble," said Tamsin. "Maybe not now, maybe not a year from now, but that kind of attitude never lends itself well to getting along peacefully." She grinned sharply. "Their parents did three good jobs raising them. I love seeing little punks figure out that the system doesn't like them and how to make the system pay for it."

"Oh, La," Caitlin groaned again, returning her forehead to the table. It was pleasant and cool, but not enough to stem the headache that she could feel starting in the back of her skull. "They're going to go fight the damn kamuiy themselves, aren't they."

"Yep," said Tamsin, leaning back again. "Hermann! Come over here a minute."

Hermann sighed visibly, clearly anticipating something unpleasant, then retrieved his cane from where it was hanging on the edge of the counter and limped over. He raised his eyebrows in question at Tamsin.

"Those three," said Tamsin, indicating Raleigh, Chuck, and Mako, who had their heads together and were whispering excitedly at their table, "are gonna go fight a kamuiy by themselves, because they're determined and idealistic about how spirits work."

Hermann's shoulders dropped in obvious exasperation and he rolled his eyes.

"Can you go and keep an eye on them? You're slightly more responsible than they are, but not old enough that they'll be suspicious," said Tamsin.

Hermann drew himself up, setting his shoulders back, and nodded.

"Sweet," said Tamsin.

As Hermann strode off towards where the kids were plotting, Caitlin lifted her head from the table and raised her eyebrows at Tamsin.

"Do you really think that will work?" she said.

"Can't hurt," said Tamsin. "Might help." She picked up the now-empty teapot and stood. "I'll go make us some more tea, and you can fret here with us while our little babies go fling themselves into danger."

"I think I know how our parents felt now," Luna said dryly. "It's certainly odd being on the other end of that situation."

"Being grown up is weird," Caitlin said, and returned her head to the table. Nothing she could do now but wait, she supposed, and patch them up when they came back. She hated waiting.

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Year 4345**

"We can't just let that spirit eat Newt, even if he is not very nice," said Mako. It was her duty as what she was to keep the balance fair between humans and the spirits, and that meant not letting people get eaten by spirits if they hadn't done anything wrong. And even if they had done something wrong, they still probably didn't deserve to get eaten by spirits.

"Absolutely," said Raleigh. "So what do we know about water kamuiy?"

"Well, most of them don't mean humans anything good," said Mako, thinking back to what little she had picked up about water kamuiy as she and Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen and Chuck had traveled across the Earth Kingdom. She'd mostly learned about earth kamuiy, since that was what most Earth Kingdom people needed to know about and so knew about. "And they get you by making you think you're all alone and that nobody cares about you."

"So we have to stick together," said Chuck. "And remember that we're all here for each other."

"Right," said Raleigh. "How are we going to find it?"

"We should look for water," said Mako. "Where is there water in Ba Sing Se?"

"There's the harbor," said Chuck. "And I think there's this lake in the Outer Ring."

"The harbor's always full of people," said Raleigh. "And that lake is called Lake Laogai, I think."

"Isn't that where the Dai Li work?" said Mako. "They fight spirits, right? So why would a spirit live there? Wouldn't it be dangerous to that spirit?"

"But the Dai Li are also…well," said Raleigh. "You know."

Mako and Chuck nodded. Everybody knew the Dai Li were terrifying and you didn't want to mess around with them. So maybe the place where they lived would also be the place where a kamuiy might live, especially if it was the kind of kamuiy that would be as scary as the Dai Li.

"But how are we going to get to Lake Laogai?" asked Chuck. "If that's where we're going at all."

"There's the trains," said Mako. "And we can walk, and stuff."

"But then they'll notice we're gone," said Chuck.

"I think they already know we're going," said Raleigh, glancing over at where Miss Tamsin, Aunt Luna, and the other person who had been sitting with Miss Tamsin when Mako and Chuck and Aunt Luna had come in were sitting and talking.

As if to confirm this theory, Miss Tamsin called Hermann, who was the new employee that Miss Tamsin had hired sometime after the Solstice, over to their table. After she had finished speaking with him, he came over to Mako and Chuck and Raleigh's table.

"Are you here to try to tell us not to go after the spirit?" Chuck snapped.

Hermann rolled his eyes, then shook his head. He pulled out the fourth chair at the table and sat down, leaning his cane up against the table, then pulled a pad of paper and a pencil out of his pocket. He wrote carefully for a minute or so, then put the pad of paper on the table where the other three could look at it.

"'I'm here to help,'" Mako read. "'Master Tamsin seems to approve of this mad venture, spirits only know why. What are you planning?'"

"We're gonna go to Lake Laogai and beat up the kamuiy until it gives Newt back," Chuck said determinedly. "And, uh, I don't think you'd be very good at beating up kamuiy." He glanced pointedly at Hermann's cane.

Hermann winced.

"Chuck, don't be an asshole," said Raleigh.

"Whatever," said Chuck. "Why would you help? You don't even like Newt."

"Shut up, Chuck," said Mako. "You don't like Newt either."

"Well, no," said Chuck. "But I don't think he should get eaten by a spirit." He shuddered.

"Exactly," said Mako. "We're all helping because it's the right thing to do, not just because we like Newt."

Hermann nodded.

"We should make a plan," said Raleigh. "So we're not just rushing in blindly without thinking about what we're doing."

"Going in without a plan would probably be the best way to get eaten," Mako said thoughtfully. "What don't water spirits like?"

"Fire," said Chuck. "But we don't have any firebenders that we know, because they can't get into Ba Sing Se, and also because they're the enemy."

"Be quiet, Chuck," Raleigh hissed.

"It's not like the Dai Li are listening in to everything we say," Chuck protested.

"But they could be," Raleigh argued. "Remember? Healer Lightcap's the one whose apprentice got snapped up, so the Dai Li are probably watching her closely to make sure she doesn't go wandering off. And she probably told them where she'd be, because they probably asked her in order to keep track of her, so they definitely know where to go to be watching her closely. So they could be here, listening in to everything we say, and they could have heard that thing you just said about the thing that doesn't exist here, so you should definitely not have said that thing you just said."

"Whatever, Raleigh," said Chuck. "What it boils down to is that we don't _have_ any fire to hit the kamuiy with."

"Firebenders aren't the only people who can light things on fire," said Mako. "There's oil, and matches, and lamps and stuff." She didn't mention that she could probably have set things on fire on her own if she just knew how; she knew how dangerous it would be to let anyone know what she was, given what her dad had told her about how the Dai Li had treated the last person to be like that. She didn't want to be made into a weapon.

"Oh right," said Chuck.

Hermann rolled his eyes. Clearly he was as fed up with Chuck being stupid as Mako was. Mako grinned at him to show him that she totally agreed with him about that.

"So we'll need lamp oil and matches," said Mako.

"What are we going to do with the lamp oil and matches, though?" asked Chuck."Just fling flaming oil at the kamuiy until it gives Newt back?"

"That really doesn't sound like it'll work," said Mako. "Also, flaming oil is dangerous, and we'd probably get hurt."

"It would be really cool, though," Chuck said wistfully. "Like something out of a spirit-tale."

"Chuck, no," said Mako. "You know how spirit-tales end, anyway."

"Yeah, the hero gets the girl and they ride off into the sunset together," said Chuck. "And the spirit goes back to the spirit world and never bothers anybody else ever again."

Hermann grabbed his pad of paper, scribbled on it for half a minute, then put it back on the table and pointed to it imperiously.

"'What kind of watered-down spirit-tales were you told?'" Raleigh read. "Yeah, okay, right, most spirit-tales aren't that happy, Chuck. You must have been told the kiddie versions."

"Oh," said Chuck.

"Also, we're not really living in a spirit-tale," said Mako. "This is real life. Things that work in stories won't work here."

"Oh," Chuck said again. He slumped, resting his forehead on the table. "What would work, then?"

"I read this scroll one time, in one of the villages we stopped in while we were traveling with Dad and Mister Hansen, that was talking about these things called spirit-mazes," Mako said slowly. "Apparently, they're these designs that you can draw on the ground or on fabric or on anything, really, and they trap spirits and make them weaker, or something? And if it's a water spirit, and we trapped it in a maze made of fire, do you think that would work?"

"Just to be clear, are we talking killing this spirit, or just trapping it and thinking about what to do after that?" said Raleigh. "Because I don't know about you three, but I don't know what to do with a trapped spirit."

"The Dai Li will probably notice if we start fighting a kamuiy right on top of where they live," said Mako. "And they're the ones supposed to be dealing with spirits in the first place, so maybe they'll come out and see what's going on, and then we can ask them to take the kamuiy away. Or maybe we can try talking to it, seeing what it wants and why, and trying to persuade it to go back to the spirit world." Keeping the balance meant keeping both sides happy, after all, and if things were weird enough that a kamuiy bad enough to eat people was wandering around, it was probably something Mako should deal with.

"Yeah, sure, like talking would actually work," said Chuck, rolling his eyes.

"Or maybe we could ask Healer Lightcap about what water spirits need in order to go away and not be really angry anymore," said Raleigh. "Since she's a waterbender and a grown-up, she probably knows."

"Maybe," said Mako. "Talking about what we're going to do after we trap it is not useful if we cannot trap it, though, so we should be thinking about that first."

"Right," said Chuck.

There was a pause.

"I really think that spirit-maze thing would work," said Mako. "But I don't know what they're supposed to look like. The scroll didn't mention any designs, just the concept of them."

"Don't the Dai Li have, like, a spirit library or something?" asked Raleigh.

"We can't go to them, they'll just tell us we're kids and don't know anything and then they'll be watching us too which means we won't be able to help at all!" Chuck said loudly.

The three adults glanced over at their table, then went back to their conversation about weird grown-up things.

"Healer Lightcap might not be able to help directly, but she might know about how spirit-mazes are supposed to look," said Mako. She stood up. "I'm going to go ask her about them. It's only a question out of curiosity, which obviously has nothing to do with the current situation, after all." She grinned at the other three, then went over to where the grown-ups were chatting.

"Oh, hey Mako," said Miss Tamsin, who was leaning back in her chair even though Aunt Luna always said that that was dangerous and that you should never ever do that because you would fall and hit your head. Mako was starting to suspect that Miss Tamsin was a Bad Influence and not really a real adult at all. "What's up, kiddo?"

"Healer Lightcap?" asked Mako, deliberately making her voice sound higher-pitched and more uncertain. "I was reading this book a while ago and it was talking about these things called spirit-mazes, and I thought those were really interesting, but it didn't talk about what they were supposed to look like, and I was really curious about that, and you're a healer and a grown-up and stuff so I thought you might know what they were supposed to look like?"

"Well, there are a lot of different kinds of spirit-mazes," said Healer Lightcap. "Some work better for water spirits, and some work better for earth spirits, and so on. Were you thinking of a particular kind of spirit-maze?"

"Well, I thought since you're a waterbender, you might know about mazes that work best on water spirits?" Mako widened her eyes and blinked as innocently as she knew how.

Healer Lightcap grinned. "Oh, do I ever. C'mere a minute, Mako. Let me show you how they work."

\---

**Year 4345**

That evening, Hermann and the three children Master Tamsin had asked him to look after went down to the shores of Lake Laogai, diagram of the spirit-maze and flask of lamp oil in hand.

Hermann wasn't afraid. He knew about spirits. He knew how to deal with spirits. He had read a lot of books on the subject. Just because they didn't know exactly what kind of spirit it was, only that it was a water spirit and that it had Newt, didn't mean that he had any reason to be afraid. They were going to set this thing on fire and get Newt back and everything was going to be okay.

Not that he cared about Newt specifically. Newt was a disgusting Water Tribe peasant with no manners. But it was the principle of the thing. Everyone knew that being eaten by spirits was the worst fate anyone could have, and it was Hermann's duty as a Prince of the Fire Nation (even exiled and on the run and no, he wasn't thinking about that) to prevent that fate from happening to someone, even if that someone was obnoxious, if it was within his ability.

The shore was quiet, the lake's fog drifting over the sand, chilling all of them to the bone. Hermann shivered and wrapped his coat more tightly around himself.

"Spirit!" called Mako. "We want to talk to you! Come on out!"

Nothing happened.

Mako's eyes flashed. Hermann had thought that was only an expression, but he could have sworn he saw her eyes literally glow blue-white for half a second before returning to their usual dark brown. He must have been imagining things, though.

"Spirit!" Mako called again, more firmly this time. "I order you to come out of that lake _right now_ and give that human you stole back! He's not yours!"

The lake rippled ominously.

Mako tapped her foot impatiently. "I said _now_!"

"Mako, I really don't think that's a good idea," Chuck said nervously. At least someone here was sensible, Hermann thought. Even if that someone was the one with the most vicious hatred of Hermann and all his people.

Raleigh, on the other hand, looked starstruck, like he always did in Mako's presence. _Ugh_ , Hermann thought to himself.

"I know more about spirits than you do, Chuck," said Mako. "And I say it is a good idea. Spirit! Now!"

Water fountained up in a roar, then rained down around the four of them, splattering on the sand. Once they could see again, they looked.

The water had formed a shape, huge and looming and chittering at a deeply unsettling pitch. Floating inside, curled up in a ball with his eyes shut, was Newt. Hermann couldn't tell if he was still alive or not. He would worry about it later. Right now, he was dealing with the giant spider made of water in front of him.

"Give Newt back," Mako demanded.

The spirit hissed.

"No, he's not yours," said Mako.

More hissing.

"I don't care if he's a big meanie," said Mako. "You will give him back _right now_ or we will set you on fire."

Hiss hiss chitter hiss. Hermann got the sense that it was laughing at them.

"Chuck," called Mako, not looking away from the kamuiy laughing at her. "Like we talked about."

Chuck nodded and shoved sharply down, the spirit-maze Healer Lightcap had drawn for them tracing itself out in the sand as Chuck bent it into place. He and Raleigh and Hermann hurried to pour the lamp oil into the channels of the maze while Mako stared down the kamuiy.

"Since you don't seem to want to give Newt back willingly, I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way," said Mako.

More laugh-chittering. It had an incredulous tone to it, like the kamuiy couldn't believe Mako's audacity.

"Oh, I don't think so," said Mako. "I know so." She bent up a chunk of stone and punched it right into the kamuiy's face.

Since Hermann was basically useless in this fight, being unable to use his bending lest he give himself away and being unable to help otherwise with his hip and leg as they were (although they had been getting a lot better now that he had been practicing more on them with the oddly-colored fire), he waited behind the spirit-maze with a box of matches while Chuck, Raleigh, and Mako tried to taunt the kamuiy into the maze with bending and, in Raleigh's case, a sword.

It seemed to be going all right. The three children were agile and managed to dodge the kamuiy's swipes and slashes without too much trouble. The kamuiy appeared to be much slower than they were, weighed down by its size and the burden it carried within it. The children were luring the kamuiy closer and closer to the spirit-maze, coaxing it out of the water by being as obnoxious as possible. It was almost there.

Then, suddenly, the kamuiy seemed to gain a burst of speed, and it lashed viciously out. Chuck screamed and crumpled, blood leaking out between his fingers where they were pressed to his chest.

"No!" yelled Mako. "Not my brother, you big fat buttface!" Her eyes flashed again, and her hand whipped through the air.

The kamuiy roared as a wave of - something, Hermann was too busy glancing back and forth between Chuck and the maze, wanting to go help with Chuck's injury since he _could_ help, that was what the oddly-colored fire did, but he couldn't leave his post, someone had to set the maze on fire when the spirit stepped into it and he was the best person for the job - slammed into it, knocking it forward onto the shore, almost into the maze but not quite.

Mako yelled and shoved again, and the kamuiy's foot crossed over into the maze. Hermann slapped fire at the lamp oil, hoping desperately that they would be able to get Newt out of the kamuiy's clutches before the flames reached him. He was also hoping desperately that the chaos and yelling meant that nobody would notice that he hadn't used the matches in his hands, but that was slightly less important right now. What was important was that he had fulfilled his fire-starting duty and he should go see if he could help Chuck at all now. Mako would take care of getting Newt out of the kamuiy. She seemed to be competent at dealing with spirits.

Chuck had passed out, pale from blood loss, sprawled limply across the sand. Raleigh had his hands pressed over where the spirit had struck Chuck, trying to put pressure on the wound to keep some of the blood in. Hermann shuffled over, hating the sand and how it refused to hold him up properly, and dropped to his knees next to the two of them.

"Oh, good, you got the spirit," said Raleigh. "Can you keep pressure on the wound while I see what herbs I managed to bring?"

Hermann nodded, and when Raleigh was turned away, he beckoned to the flames burning on the lamp-oil around the kamuiy. Mako seemed to be handling that well, at least. He circled his palms around the flame, kneading it into its other, odder colors, and pressed it into the wound. He didn't know how much he was helping, but he tried to mentally encourage Chuck to _live_ as loudly as he could without actually speaking. Even if Chuck hated him, Mako was a very nice girl, and she didn't deserve to lose her brother like that.

Hermann would just have to do his best, and pray to Agni that it was enough.


	13. Chapter 13

**Year 4345**

Cold. Cold, and dark, and soaked through, and _alone_. Newt could barely breathe, much less think, under the weight of that loneliness.

No one cared about him. No one loved him. No one would miss him when he was gone. The memory of his existence would melt away like the thaw melted away the snow. He should just give up now, and let the water take him.

 _Master Lightcap will come and get me_ , he thought firmly. _Or at least tell the Dai Li, and they'll come get me. Everything will be okay._

He had been banished. Cast out. If Master Lightcap knew the truth, she would never speak to him again. She would kick him out, revoke his healer's license, and he would be alone with nothing again. It was inevitable. She would be even angrier once she found out he'd lied to her about it. Why would he ever want to leave this place, even though it was cold and lonely? At least it was safe here. No one would ask anything of him here.

_I can't let Master Lightcap down. I have to fight this. It's just a puny little spirit. I should be able to get out of this!_

And yet here he was, cold and in the dark and soaked through and alone. He had already let Master Lightcap down by lying to her and then letting himself get caught. He'd practically been asking for it, leaving the lantern out like that. How dare he fight? How dare he struggle? He should just give in. Why was he fighting, again? What did he even have to fight for? He had no family. No community. No home. He had nothing.

_I have Master Lightcap. She cares about me._

Did he really, honestly think that? He had no evidence for that.

_She took me on as her apprentice and she hasn't kicked me out yet._

Pity, pure and simple. She just refused to see him starve, as any decent person might. He didn't deserve her charity.

_It's not charity!_

Why else would she have? It wasn't like he was actually any good as a healer, or like she needed the help.

Cold and alone and soaked through and in the dark, Newt screwed up his eyes and tried to think positive with the kamuiy (at least he hadn't been just being paranoid about that, see, he could do things right, he was smart) oozing into his thoughts and dragging him down. He could do this. He could.

He could.

\---

**Year 4345**

Something was challengingthe kamuiy. Puny mortals, weak flesh wrapped around barely-flickering spirit-flame, nothing to be concerned about. It would be but the work of a moment to crush them.

Except that the Bridge was here. Silly Bridge did not understand that this human belonged to the kamuiy now. Silly Bridge thought she and her _friends_ could even try to trap the kamuiy in their precious little maze. How cute. It could play with them for a while before it killed them all.

The kamuiy stumbled. A lucky hit. Enough playing around, the kamuiy decided. It lashed out fast and vicious, not at the Bridge herself, but at one of her companions. It laughed, loud and long, at the Bridge's upset. Yes, good, now the Bridge would know its loneliness as well.

It had roused the Bridge's anger, it appeared. No matter. The Bridge was only a child, one who had not yet come into her full power. Destroying her would be easy.

Wrapped up in its overconfidence, the kamuiy didn't see the first blow coming. Or the second.

The flames of the spirit-maze licked up its bloated, dripping body, and it screamed.

\---

**Year 4345**

Newt refused to pay attention to the battle. He might not be friends with these people, but they evidently gave enough of a shit about him to come rescue him, and he didn't want to see them hurt. He didn't want to see anybody hurt; he was a healer, for La's sake! And it wasn't like he could do anything to stop it, so all he could do was ignore it and try to pretend it wasn't happening so he didn't have to see these people get hurt.

Someone was calling his name. No, he didn't want to listen. He turned away and put his hands over his ears. He just wanted everything to stop. He didn't want to have to deal with any of this anymore.

The person was calling his name more insistently, saying that someone was hurt.

Someone was hurt. He was a healer. It was his job to fix people who were hurt. He should go to that person and help them.

Oh, but it would be so much easier to stay here and just drift away, even if things were starting to get a little warm. It didn't really matter. There were other healers in the city. Master Lightcap would probably be disappointed, but she'd be disappointed anyway that her apprentice managed to get himself eaten by a kamuiy by doing something as stupid as not lighting a lantern.

But he was the closest healer. And this was someone he knew. Maybe not someone he liked, but someone who had risked his life to help Newt out. It was only fair that Newt return the favor, or at least get off his lazy ass, get away from the kamuiy, and go help him out.

Newt gathered his courage, uncurled himself from the ball he'd tucked himself into in the depths of the kamuiy, and reached out to the hand that was reaching in to him.

He fell out onto the sand, coughing up water, Mako's hand still clutched in his.

"Someone's hurt?" he gasped out once he could talk. His voice was a lot more high-pitched than he usually let it be, but he wasn't going to worry about that right now. He also wasn't going to worry about the fact that he wasn't wearing the bandages he usually wore on his chest, because he'd taken them off to sleep and hadn't had a chance to put them back on.

"Yes," said Mako. "My brother Chuck. The spirit got him."

"Oh," said Newt. Chuck was kind of an asshole. But it was his duty as a healer to fix people when they were broken, whether or not he personally liked them. "Okay." He heaved himself to his feet, an arm crossed strategically over his chest to try to hide what was there even a little bit. Probably not very successfully, but Mako was polite enough not to stare.At least there was that.

"He's over there," said Mako. She pointed to two people huddled over a third, who was lying prone on the sand. Newt recognized the two people who worked at the tea shop as the vaguely upright ones and half-wondered what they were even doing there. Mako he could understand - she seemed to have a passion for justice and heroics the way kids often did, and she'd probably dragged Chuck along with her - and he guessed Raleigh made sense, because he seemed to follow Mako around wherever she went - but what baffled him was that Hermann had apparently come along. Didn't Hermann hate him, or whatever? Or at least think he was a total asshole?

Well, okay, Newtkind of was a total asshole. At least he could admit that about himself. He was secure in his asshole-ness.

Also, that was not the point. The point was that Chuck was injured, although when Newt pushed Hermann and Raleigh gently aside to take a look, he didn't actually look all that injured? There was a scrape on Chuck's chest, evidently having torn the fabric of his shirt and coat, but nothing serious enough to make anyone worry. Also not serious enough for the amount of blood on Chuck's shirt and on the surrounding sand, but that wasn't something Newt was going to worry about right now. He swirled up water from the damp sand, circled it between his hands, and pressed it over the wound, checking over Chuck's chi meridians and all that stuff.

He wasn't surprised by the chi depletion - fucking with kamuiy usually led to that kind of result - but what did surprise him was an odd golden mass shoved into the hole where a significant portion of Chuck's chi should have been. It didn't seem like it was hurting Chuck - on the contrary, it seemed to be trying to pull together the shattered edges where the kamuiy had struck. Newt nudged it along carefully, tugging almost-invisible wisps from both sides across the gap between the golden mass and the solid greenish glow that was the rest of Chuck's chi. He couldn't exactly remove the golden mass, and he didn't know what else he'd fill up that hole in Chuck's spirit with, so he might as well help it integrate so it could help Chuck get better.

Finally, he pulled back, leaving healed skin and easier breathing in his wake. "Okay, uh, I think he'll be okay now. Lots of sunlight, hang around rock a lot - his chi's all busted up, mostly. Uh, hugs, also. Affection is good for healing. Yeah." He heaved himself to his feet and dusted himself off, swaying a little. He was pretty dizzy himself; he should probably spend some time meditating, try to get his chi back in order.

"Are you okay?" asked Raleigh, also pushing himself up.

"Fine," said Newt, slapping a smile onto his face. He was fine. Everything was fine. The kamuiy was gone - he'd felt its hold on him evaporate in the heat of the flames of the spirit-maze - and he was alive, and everybody who had come to rescue him was also alive. There was nothing to complain about.

Nothing at all.

\---

**Year 4345**

It was almost midnight when their little group shuffled back into Miss Tamsin's tea shop, damp and almost falling down from how tired they were.

To Mako's surprise, Miss Tamsin, Aunt Luna, and Healer Lightcap were waiting for them. When the shop bell jingled, all three adults jerked slightly, as if they had been dozing off and the bell had woken them up.

"Oh, thank Guanyin, you're all okay," said Aunt Luna, getting to her feet and scooping Mako and Chuck and Raleigh up in a hug. Such displays of affection were unusual for her, but Mako was finding that she really needed the comfort after the evening she had had. Sure, it was her duty to deal with spirits, but spirits were scary. And Chuck had gotten really hurt and probably almost died.

"Yeah, we're fine," Chuck grumbled, trying to squirm out of the hug. "You're such a worrywart, Aunt Luna."

"Shut up, Chuck," mumbled Raleigh. He looked surprised to have been included in the hug, which was weird, because he was definitely family by now. Of course Aunt Luna would include him in hugs.

Meanwhile, Healer Lightcap was wrapping Newt up in a hug, and Miss Tamsin was patting Hermann gently on the shoulder.

"Oh spirits, you _complete idiot_ ," Healer Lightcap was saying. "You are never allowed to do that again, you hear me? Keep your lanterns lit, kiddo, you had me worried."

"Sorry, Master Lightcap," said Newt. "I forgot." He looked very chastised.

Mako yawned. Beating up spirits was tiring work.

"Okay, bedtime for everybody," said Miss Tamsin. "Go on, get out, go home. Take your gross familial affection away." She waved her hands at them, shooing them out.

On the way home, Mako clung tightly to Chuck's hand, and he didn't protest much. She'd almost lost him. She wasn't going to let that happen again.

\---

**Year 4345**

Finally free of Master Lightcap's endless questioning about how okay he actually was, Newt shuffled through the door to his apartment and shut and locked it behind him.

Oh La. There was still a puddle under the windowsill.

Well, he was a big boy, he could deal with a little puddle on the floor. He twitched a finger towards it, beckoning it up so he could pour it in the sink and watch it disappear.

He was safe. The kamuiy was gone. Everyone was okay. Everything was fine.

He'd managed to keep from blurting out the truth of his banishment to Master Lightcap out of guilt, but it had been close. He still felt guilty about it, but he dared not tell her, not if he wanted to keep being her apprentice.

He lit the lamp on automatic, habit from weeks of paranoia. Realizing that he didn't need to light the lamp every night anymore, he bent to blow it out, then hesitated.

He knew the kamuiy was gone and couldn't hurt him anymore. He knew that everything was going to be okay. He knew he didn't have to have the lamp lit anymore, and keeping it lit every night would really cost him. But he just…couldn't make himself blow it out. It felt wrong.

Well, he figured, one more night couldn't hurt. He'd leave it lit one more night, indulge his paranoia a little. The night after, though, he would definitely not light it. Definitely.

He spent all night staring at the ceiling, watching the flickering shadows from the lamp pass across the wood. The time when Newt would have to go off to work eventually arrived with him not having gotten a wink of sleep, so he hauled himself out of his futon, blew out the lamp, and dragged himself off to work.

"Nope," said Master Lightcap the instant he walked in. "Nope, no work for you today, go sit in the garden with the pond and meditate."

"But you probably have backlog, since I wasn't here to help yesterday," Newt protested.

"Go sit in the garden," Master Lightcap repeated. "You won't be any help if you're all jittery and sleep-deprived like you are."

Newt sighed and went to sit quietly in the garden by himself. He could tell that there would be no arguing with Master Lightcap. And the pre-dawn glow was nice to look at, and the water of the pond was calm and dark, and it was cold out but he had a coat. He folded his legs carefully, rested his hands in his lap, and breathed slowly and evenly, aware of the flow of blood in his body and the stillness of the water of the pond and the soft burble of the little waterfall that kept the pond from becoming stagnant.

The whole thing didn't quite feel real. Not the kamuiy, and not the rescue, and not quite even the weeks of paranoia. It felt like a dream, or a nightmare, one that might last forever. He couldn't quite believe that it was over.

Slowly, the sun rose over the Outer Wall, golden rays pouring into Master Lightcap's clinic's garden. Newt closed his eyes and lifted his face to the light. Waterbenders took their power from the moon, it was true, but there was nothing like sunlight to beat away lingering brushes with a malevolent kamuiy.

He had been so utterly, completely, unforgivably _stupid_. He'd left the lantern unlit; he hadn't gone to the Dai Li; he'd tried to ignore the possibility of a kamuiy rather than actually do anything about it.

Sure, okay, spirits were _fascinating_ and he wanted to know _everything_ about them. He wanted to find out more about them, and study them if he could. He'd half-thought that maybe having one chase him, so he could see it up close, would be a good learning experience.

He'd learned, all right.

He'd learned he never wanted to see another spirit as long as he lived. The kamuiy's touch on his mind had been awful, cold and vicious and so, so _lonely_. No wonder it had tried to eat people, he thought. It had only wanted someone else to understand it.

Even if the kamuiy had only wanted someone else to understand it, Newt shuddered remembering how it had felt, seeping through the cracks in his mind, oozing in where it didn't belong, shoving and forcing its way through all of his carefully constructed barriers until it sat, dripping and still so cold and so lonely in the center of his mind.

He drew in a breath. Let it out. It was over now. The kamuiy was ashes on the wind. It couldn't get to him again.

He slowly toppled over out of his half-lotus until he was curled up as tightly as he could manage on the stone path, his face hidden in his knees. He shouldn't be this scared. He shouldn't be shaking like this. He shouldn't be blinking back tears. The whole situation was over. He had no reason to be so afraid.

Newt bit his lip, and held his folded legs tightly to his chest, and tried not to cry too loudly. He didn't want to worry Master Lightcap any more than he'd already worried her, after all.

In the sunlight, on the cold stone of the path, tears drying on his cheeks, Newt finally fell asleep.

\---

**Year 4345**

Hermann spent the following day constantly glancing over his shoulder at Raleigh. He'd been firebending last night, after all, and perhaps Raleigh had seen something, perhaps he hadn't.Hermann didn't know which, and he couldn't exactly _ask_ \- what would he have written down, "so did you see me firebending last night"? It was maddening.

It had felt so good to bend after so long with only a little bending with the oddly-colored fire in the evenings to keep his leg from freezing up on him, and that only when Karla fell asleep before he did, which wasn't that frequently, and the occasional brush of fingers to the kettles in Master Tamsin's tea shop to vent frustration in heat rather than flames, though. He knew as well as anyone else that chi needed using, needed exercise, or it went stale and stagnant, but there was no chance to practice in Ba Sing Se, the city with no war and not even a breath about the Fire Nation, ever. He would inevitably get caught, even if he only practiced the forms in his and Karla's little apartment cold, without flame. That was just how his luck ran.

Hermann was just glad his work didn't require that much concentration; he would have inevitably messed up something as delicate as carrying a tray of teacups and putting them down by the correct person, with how distracted he was by worrying over or not Raleigh had seen Hermann firebend, and whether or not he would report what he had seen to the Dai Li if he had seen. He recalled back to the discussion he'd overheard, the one where the one who could actually talk had been discussing whether or not it was appropriate to turn an acquaintance over to the Dai Li for being a firebender. Raleigh had seemed against it, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't do it when faced with the reality of having a firebender acquaintance. People acted oddly under pressure.

Just like him, jumping in to try to heal an Earth Kingdom peasant who he barely knew and who would hate him if he knew what Hermann was. That had not been rational in the least. He could hardly explain his actions to himself.

He could also hardly explain cuddling up to Karla the previous night without any prompting from her. Usually, Karla was the one who demanded snuggles, and Hermann the one who reluctantly complied, because cuddles were the least he could do for Karla after everything she had done for him. But after arriving at their apartment the previous night, he'd needed the closeness and the comfort. It shamed him to admit such a need now, but then, he'd been too tired to corral his actions inside his normal behavior patterns, and he'd crawled into bed next to his sister and wrapped his limbs around her to the best of his ability. The kamuiy had been so cold and so lonely and Hermann had needed a reminder of the warmth of family and clan that his sister represented. She had mumbled something in sleepy confusion, then cuddled into him right back, so Hermann assumed that she hadn't objected.

Now, in the daylight, he tried to remind himself that need was weakness, but the phrase rang in his ears in his Father's voice and paying attention to it made him feel sick to his stomach. He bit his lip and directed his frustration where it could do some good, warming through the porcelain of the teapots and the copper of the kettles. It didn't matter. The Fire Lord might not mean Hermann well, but he was well within his rights as Fire Lord to discard a useless child, since he already had an heir in Dietrich. And the Fire Lord certainly wasn't obligated to pay attention to or care about a child that had openly defied him, broken loyalty to him.Hermann could hardly hold a grudge.

The more Hermann told himself that, the harder he found it to believe. Weren't parents supposed to care for their children? In most of the families he and Karla had seen in their travels across the Earth Kingdom, the parents and the children were affectionate to each other. The parents smiled at their children, and hugged them, and praised them when they did well. Perhaps things were different in the Fire Nation; Hermann had never really had a chance to see what an average family there looked like, and it was certainly true that the Fire Lord had many more things to worry about than his family. In a way, it was a little ridiculous to expect the Fire Lord to put time and energy and care into his wife and children, since he had the entire Fire Nation to worry about. The old Fire Lord, Hermann's grandfather, certainly hadn't put any energy into his family.

It still didn't feel right. But that didn't matter. He had left, he was gone, he was not going back to the Fire Nation unless he had to.Whether or not the Fire Lord was wrong about some things was irrelevant. Hermann would figure it out. But he wasn't going to think about it right now. He had more important things to do.

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a heads-up: starting this chapter, updates will be every two or three weeks instead of every week, since i've run out of backlog and this is the last chapter i have finished. worry not, there will be updates, they'll just be further apart.

**Year 4345**

Chuck didn't feel right. Sure, he knew that getting beat up by a kamuiy messed with your chi, but this felt like it was more than that. Okay, yeah, he was having some of the classic symptoms of chi drainage, like very small amounts of bending exhausting him entirely and a need to be near rock pretty much constantly or he got _really_ cranky, but there was some other stuff, and it was creeping him out.

For example, sunlight felt _awesome_ lately. Sure, okay, yeah, sunlight was pretty great ordinarily, since it was what made plants grow and it was warm and all that stuff, but that first dawn after the whole business with the kamuiy had felt…

He couldn't even really describe it. It had been wonderful, incredible, like a fire had been lit in his soul or some other fancy poetry crap like the stuff Mako liked to read.

And that wasn't even mentioning the weird dream he thought he'd had when he was out, after the kamuiy had slashed at him. His grandma on his mom's side had been there, and his dad's dad, and two people who had said they were Mister Pentecost's and Aunt Luna's grandparents. That dream had been weird, and Chuck wasn't going to think about it, because it had probably just been one of those weird near-death things you always heard about,because all of those people he'd dreamed about were dead.

Anyway, he was feeling weird, and kind of off, and he didn't want to go to Healer Lightcap about it because he barely knew her and her apprentice was a jackass and she was probably really busy anyway and she might not even know what was wrong with him. If there even was anything wrong beyond depleted chi, which there probably wasn't. And even if there was, he could deal with it, because he was thirteen whole years old and that was almost a grown-up, even if Mako thought he was a baby. What did Mako know, anyway? She was only twelve. She was still a kid, even if she tried to be responsible for the whole world. Chuck didn't know how anyone could be responsible for the whole world, but Mako kept saying it was her duty or something.

Chuck was pretty sure that his sister was weird. The way she'd kicked that kamuiy's ass had been really cool, though, from the way Raleigh had described it. Chuck had missed the whole thing due to being unconscious, which really sucked. He also wasn't sure how reliable a narrator Raleigh was when it came to talking about Mako, since Raleigh thought Mako was made of awesome. But he thought it was reasonable that she kicked spirit ass in a totally awesome way, so he guessed he'd believe Raleigh's version of events.

But anyway, he didn't feel right, and he wasn't gonna go to Healer Lightcap about it, and he was gonna deal with whatever it was, even if he was kind of maybe a little scared that maybe the kamuiy had messed up something really important. But his earthbending worked just fine, even if it was still kind of weak and that was really annoying because he _should_ be able to move more than just a few pebbles, he knew he could, but he couldn't right now and he wanted his chi to get better already because he was getting frustrated. And all of his limbs worked just fine, and he didn't even have a scar where the kamuiy had slammed into him, and he wasn't even having trouble breathing. So he didn't even know what could be wrong. So it was probably nothing. So he wasn't going to worry about it unless something happened.

Anyway, that weird jackass of a healer's apprentice Newt had been coming around Miss Tamsin's tea shop a lot more often lately, ostensibly to check on how Chuck was healing, but Chuck hadn't missed Newt making eyes at Hermann. Chuck guessed that they were suited for each other, both being weirdos and all, but it was still weird and kind of gross. Chuck knew for a fact that he was _never_ getting involved in that whole mushy romance thing, ever. Why would he want to? There were so many other things to spend his time on, like trying to get his earthbending back in shape or helping Aunt Luna in her shop or even _meditating_ , which was really, really boring but Dad always insisted it was good for him, so he guessed it might have some merit to it because Dad was right about a lot of things, and he did want his chi to get better quickly so he guessed he might as well meditate. He found sitting still really hard, though, especially lately. He just wanted to get up and _go places_ and _do things_ and just sitting quietly and breathing was _really annoying_.

Oh well. It wasn't like he had anything else to do while Mako and Raleigh were sparring, or maybe flirting - he couldn't tell which - and he was still not allowed to spar because he was supposed to be healing. But he sure as anything wasn't going to sit still for it. He could do the fancy meditation breathing without sitting still, right? Of course right.

So he would pace around the yard and do the fancy breathing and hope everything settled down back to normal quickly, because he was _tired_ of not being able to do anything.

\---

**Year 4345**

That obnoxious healer's apprentice was back again, Hermann thought despairingly. Rescue someone from getting eaten by a kamuiy _one time_ and they thought you were their best friend and kept showing up uninvited and without an excuse to your place of employment.

Hermann reminded himself that compassion for the clearly stupid was an important virtue a Prince should strive to cultivate. He reminded himself that patience was essential, and that setting things on fire in irritation was not an appropriate reaction to someone trying to be friendly.

Making friends was good. Making friends was important. Having people tolerate him would make living in Ba Sing Se a lot easier. Newt was just trying, in his clumsy way, to be grateful.

All of these things combined didn't mean that Newt didn't drive Hermann _completely batty_. And not in a positive way. It had gotten to the point where the mere _sight_ of Newt was enough to make Hermann's temper start heating up, and with it anything within range that would conduct heat. He'd almost burnt several cups of tea, which was _infuriating_ , because a mere peasant should never have that kind of control over him.

Hermann kept trying to resolve to keep his cool around Newt, but that resolve nearly always got broken once Newt actually made an appearance. When Newt appeared was the only time he regarded his mysterious unwillingness to speak as a blessing rather than a curse; he would inevitably have ended up shouting, and then Master Tamsin would have had to throw him out, and then he might lose his employment, which was unacceptable and would be completely unfair to Karla.

But Newt was just _so wrong about everything_ , especially regarding spirits and also regarding proper behavior around tea and around everything else. He was so _casual_ with his words and actions, so disgustingly obviously lower-class that it nearly made Hermann physically ill. And he seemed to have made it his goal in life to tease Hermann about everything at every opportunity, from his haircut (still growing out after cutting off his topknot, so Newt could just shut up for once in his life) to his style of dress (apparently outdated and "fussy", whatever that meant. Hermann had been under the impression that he was dressed comfortably, while still being formal enough to go to work with. He was showing _respect_ to Master Tamsin. Newt was clearly an uncultured, impolite _savage_ if he couldn't see that) to his mannerisms (Hermann had been _trying_ , for _years_ , to make himself act in a way that didn't disgrace his Fire Lord and his Nation, but apparently that just wasn't good enough for Newt, was it, he just _had_ to pick and pry at every single flaw until Hermann wanted to scream at him but couldn't because his _voice_ didn't _work_ anymore).

Hermann tried to comfort himself with the knowledge that, if he _really_ lost his temper, he could beat Newt's shins in with his cane without even a lick of flame in his hands and thus without revealing himself as the hated enemy of Ba Sing Se. Finally, the symbol of his Father's humiliation of him could be of use beyond propping him up when his useless limbs refused to do so anymore.

Then again, if he beat Newt's shins in with his cane, Master Tamsin would probably still be incredibly disappointed in him. Best not to do something that stupid.

Still, he could dream. It was something to occupy his mind while Newt leaned obnoxiously on the counter and batted his eyelashes at Hermann and chattered away without ever saying anything of import. Contemplating the many and varied ways he would inflict bodily injury on this _pest_ was far superior to dying of boredom, or to actually inflicting the aforementioned bodily injury.

Hermann didn't really understand why Newt kept coming by and kept smiling at him so much. What was there to smile at? Hermann knew he wasn't a terribly pleasant person to look at or to talk to, especially since he couldn't talk back. It was all terribly confusing, and it didn't help that Newt had big, earnest eyes, or that he seemed genuinely interested in talking at Hermann for whatever spirits-forsaken reason he might have.

Hermann told himself that he refused to become interested in a Water Tribe peasant who didn't even have the decency to be entirely Water Tribe. What kind of waterbender had green eyes, Hermann wondered? And weren't male waterbenders combat-trained, rather than healing-trained? Hermann supposed that might explain why Newt was apprenticed under Healer Lightcap, though - if Newt hadn't been trained in healing originally, he would have to take lessons in order to catch up.

Why was he thinking about Newt so much anyway? Evidently that nuisance didn't find it satisfying enough to pester Hermann day in and day out; he had to invade Hermann's thoughts as well and make himself comfortable there like he made himself comfortable everywhere, ignoring all propriety and smiling as brightly as the noon sun. Ugh, and now he was coming up with flowery metaphors about Newt to himself. He shook his head firmly. This whole thing was ridiculous. He would cease thinking of Newt immediately and return to his work.

…

Scorch everything, there Newt still was, leaning his elbows on the counter and smiling at Hermann.

"You doing okay there, buddy? You looked like you were up in the clouds for a bit," said Newt.

Hermann scowled, trying to dissuade Newt from any further attempts at conversation.

"No need to look like someone burnt your noodles," Newt grumbled. "I was only trying to make conversation."

 _Stop trying_ , Hermann would have said, if he'd been able. Sadly, his vocal cords did not seem to want to cooperate today, like they hadn't seemed to want to cooperate any of the previous days and weeks and months. He had to settle for more scowling and turning away to paste a smile on his face for a customer who had recently come up to the counter. He hoped that once the customer's order had been placed and he turned back to where Newt had been, Newt would be gone.

No such luck. "Man, you are just the crankiest little crab, aren't you?" said Newt, seeming almost delighted with his conclusion. "Seriously, what even is your problem with me? I know I'm cute, and you evidently liked me enough to come help rescue me or whatever that one time, so, like, what _is_ it, dude?"

Hermann rolled his eyes. He pulled his pad of paper out of his apron pocket and, beneath the latest order, wrote clearly _I do not like you or enjoy your company, please leave me alone._ He shoved the pad of paper in Newt's face.

"Oh," said Newt. He seemed disappointed, which made sense, because his little toy had stopped wanting to play along with his supposedly-harmless teasing. Well, he could just suck it up. Hermann was done being made fun of, whether or not it was all supposed to be a joke. "Well, I mean, I guess, if you insist. Can I order some tea first?"

Hermann huffed in resignation, then nodded. It was a tea shop, after all. Letting customers order tea was his job, no matter how annoying the customers were.

After Newt had ordered his tea and sat down at a table, Hermann sighed quietly to himself and leaned back against the counter, taking his weight off his leg for a moment. Standing all day certainly wasn't helping it stop screaming at him for the most minor of infractions, even if the oddly-colored fire was making it less achy in general, especially in the cold.

Well, he might as well do something productive with his annoyance. He let his hands heat up as they'd been wanting to do since Newt entered the shop, then pressed them carefully to the top of his thigh. Even without fire, heat through his muscles and skin and bones helped.

The next evening, Newt was back, leaning on the counter again and still smiling that damnable smile. Hermann wanted to sear it off his face.

"So, I've been thinking," said Newt.

Hermann sighed and leaned down to rest his forehead on the counter.

"What's wrong with your voice, anyway?" said Newt. "I mean, like, I'm a healer, I could take a look at your, like, vocal cords and throat and stuff."

Hermann shook his head several times. It wasn't a physical ailment. It was just him, being inexcusably weak as always. He _could_ talk. He _should_ talk - it would make everything a great deal easier. But he just couldn't make the words come out.

"Why not?" said Newt. "It wouldn't hurt, I promise, and this would be something I'd be cool with doing free of charge if money's an issue. It'd be no big deal, really."

Hermann fished out his pad of paper and wrote carefully on it, then presented it to Newt.

"This is your own thing to deal with?" Newt said skeptically, reading what Hermann had written. "I find that hard to believe, man. It's not weak to want help."

Hermann shook his head again. Newt was clearly delusional. Asking for help was simply not done. He should be able to deal with it himself. If he couldn't get his voice working again, he would just put up with it. It was his own fault anyway.

Newt's eyebrows went up and he shrugged. "Okay, whatever. Your loss. But actually, anytime, if you decide you want me to help out, I'd be totally cool with it. Just, like, say the word. Or, uh, whatever your equivalent is."

Hermann rolled his eyes and didn't otherwise respond. Eventually, after being ignored for long enough, Newt gave up and went away. That didn't surprise Hermann; ignore anyone long enough and they left. That was sort of how people worked. There were exceptions, of course, Karla being one of them (and that baffled Hermann endlessly), but by default, people left.

He went back to brewing tea. At least that was predictable.

\---

**Year 4345**

Chuck snarled and punched the ground, breaking his form for the third time that day. He couldn't focus, everything felt wrong, and none of his muscles seemed to want to cooperate with him. Sure, not all days were like this, but there had been more days like this than days when everything actually went well lately. It had been three weeks since Mako and her puppy-eyed boyfriend had dragged him on that stupid spirit thing! Wasn't he supposed to be getting better?

He knew recovery took time, and all that bullshit. But he wasn't even recovering! He wasn't really any better than he'd been a week ago! And the only improvement over three weeks ago was that he was standing and walking and not bleeding out on the bloody fucking shore of bloody fucking Lake Laogai!

A mental voice that sounded a whole lot like Mister Pentecost frowned loudly at him for swearing, even in his own head. Chuck wasn't sure how a voice could frown, much less frown loudly, but he supposed Mister Pentecost could do just about anything.

Unlike Chuck, who couldn't even lift more than a fist-sized rock right now.

He was probably just tired. He could take a break, come back to the move in five minutes or so.

No. He was Earth; he was stubborn; he would _make_ this rock obey him.

Chuck focused his will, glared at the rock with all his might, shoved his energy under the rock and pushed up.

Nothing. It felt like slamming himself into a brick wall and then pushing the brick wall, or like he imagined that would feel for someone who couldn't just bend the wall out of their way. Sure, okay, the rock wobbled a bit, but it was nowhere near the fling upwards it should have been.

Chuck screeched and punched the ground again in frustration, then jumped back in shock and - yeah, okay, maybe a little bit of horror. He wasn't scared, okay? Just because some random flames coincidentally curled around his hand when he punched, without a source of fuel in sight, and dissipated almost instantly, didn't mean anything. Just because anybody looking at him would have thought he had just -

No, no, no, nope, nothing was happening here. Everything was fine. That hadn't just happened.

He should definitely take a break, if he was seeing things like that. Maybe go inside, have a drink of water, bother his sister.

He was an earthbender. He knew that, and he could still lift pebbles - a wave of his hand and a lot more effort than it should have taken proved that right then and there. So he couldn't have just done what it looked like he had done. Because he was an earthbender, and that meant he bent earth, and not - anything else. Only the Avatar could bend more than one element, and he already knew who that was, and it wasn't him.

He couldn't have just firebent.

He couldn't have.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i maybe underestimated how much time the next chapter would take to write. sorry about that, guys! here it is, finally, and not much happens this one, oops. stuff will happen next chapter, i promise! and hopefully that one won't take over a month to write. no promises on that one, though.

**Year 4345**

"Show me," said Mako.

They were inside, in Aunt Luna's kitchen, with the shutters closed and a dish of water nearby. It was as safe as it could get.

It wasn't that Chuck was scared. Sure, okay, the Dai Li were generally regarded as _really creepy,_ but he wasn't afraid of them. He wasn't afraid they'd see him firebending and make him disappear. After that kamuiy, a few earthbenders were nothing. He wasn't afraid of them.

He was a little nervous that he was actually just making stuff up; that he had been imagining it, that he was just being silly, that under pressure he wouldn't be able to do it again.

Chuck took a deep breath, made a fist, then snapped his hand open as quickly as he could. A flame hovered above his palm, flickering and uncertain. It steadied as he calmed, swelling and subsiding with each breath.

"That's weird," said Mako.

"Yeah," said Chuck. He closed his hand again, extinguishing the little flame, and stared determinedly at the floor. He didn't want to see Mako hating him for being a firebender."So…what are we gonna do about it?"

"I don't know," said Mako. "Do you think they'd let us in at the University library so we could look stuff up?"

Chuck shrugged and looked up. Mako didn't look upset, but he wasn't going to stop worrying about it just yet. "I don't know. We could go find out. But what would we even look up?"

"I don't know," Mako said again. "We could ask Aunt Luna. Or Miss Tamsin, or Healer Lightcap."

"We could," said Chuck. "But I don't know if they'd know anything about it. I mean, I've never heard of it."

"Yeah, but you're only fourteen," said Mako. "We're just kids. We don't know that much about anything."

"That's dumb," said Chuck. "We know a lot of stuff!"

"You're dumb!" said Mako, and stuck out her tongue.

"Yeah, well, you're boring," said Chuck, and stuck out his tongue right back. The two of them locked gazes.

Mako rolled her eyes and said nothing.

"Whatever," Chuck grumbled, looked down, and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Let's ask Aunt Luna if we can have the afternoon off tomorrow, and we can go to the University library then," Mako suggested.

"Yeah, okay," said Chuck.

"Can you show me again?" said Mako.

The excitement in her eyes made Chuck feel sick. Didn't she know that he had become the enemy? Didn't she realize that firebending wasn't good, or cool, or anything like earthbending or waterbending or airbending was? Fire _ate stuff_ to stay alive. The other elements just were. They didn't try to hurt anybody, unlike fire. Every time Chuck firebent, he was betraying his family and his Kingdom. But Mako just looked enthralled, and Chuck knew he couldn't refuse his sister for long. He snapped his hand open again, holding the flame, and used his other hand to poke at it, seeing how it moved. It was totally unlike earth , which made sense, and it felt like it was almost as scared of him as he was of it. But that was stupid, because fire wasn't afraid of anything. It didn't have feelings. It was just fire. Everybody knew that firebending came from anger - what kind of fire was _afraid_ of anything?

He put it out of his mind. It didn't matter if the fire was _afraid_ or whatever. All that was important was learning how to control it so he didn't hurt anybody by accident. He didn't think he could live with himself if he let that happen.

\---

**Year 4345**

Newt sighed, letting his forehead rest on the cool wood of the tea shop table. Flirting with cute tea shop employees was hard, he was forced to conclude. Especially grouchy silent ones who practically burned holes in you with their gaze. It had been two months of hanging around, batting his eyelashes, and complimenting anything he could find to compliment about Hermann. What else could he do? There had to be something Hermann would appreciate. Man, what did it take for a guy to get a hint?

Or maybe Hermann had already gotten the hint and was trying to give Newt a hint right back, except in the opposite direction. Newt couldn't tell. It wouldn't be the first time he'd tripped over his own feet and forgotten all social graces at the sight of a pretty face. Man, would he feel like a tool if that was the case. He didn't _want_ Hermann to feel uncomfortable.

He guessed the way Hermann had said (well, written) _I do not like you or enjoy your company_ was pretty unambiguous. So he was probably being an asshole here. Shit. Maybe he really should just leave this guy alone.

But Newt couldn't be completely imagining the way Hermann's eyes stayed firmly fixed on him whenever he was in the shop. Sure, okay, maybe it _looked_ like Hermann was glowering suspiciously and couldn't wait until Newt left, but Newt was pretty sure that it was a front.

He probably should just leave Hermann alone. But he really didn't want to.

And he kept thinking of what had happened on the lakeshore, all those months ago. About the way the rip in Chuck's shirt and the amount of blood didn't match up at all with the size of the wound. About that weird golden glow in Chuck's spirit. About how Hermann had been hunched over Chuck before Newt got there.

Newt hadn't managed to be in the tea shop at the same time as Mako and her brother in a while, so he hadn't yet had a chance to ask Chuck if Newt could check him over as a follow-up to the whole mess. That wouldn't seem suspicious, right? That was just good practice as a healer. Follow-ups were regarded as standard. And it had been a while. Newt wanted to make sure the chi drain from the kamuiy was healing well. He wanted to make sure that there weren't any complications from that weird golden glowy thing, and that if there were, they could figure out something to do about it.

Although Newt didn't know anything about dealing with weird golden glowy things. Sure, he knew a lot about spirits, but not when they were the human kind and also the alive kind. He guessed he should probably know more, as a healer, but he'd been focusing on the actual physical squishy bits of people rather than the intangible squishy bits. That was probably a poor choice on his part. Just like sitting in this tea shop, staring longingly at the cute grumpy employee (the other one seemed mostly like a very tall and slightly less hairy than usual lion-dog puppy), was a poor choice. Man, Newt was just all about the poor choices lately, wasn't he? And by lately, he meant always. His life was basically a string of bad decisions one right after the other.

Newt sighed again, stood, stretched, and left the tea shop, discontent, restless, and not really sure what to do about any of it.

\---

**Year 4345**

Once Mako and Chuck figured out how to put a fire out, the whole thing got significantly less terrifying. They spent a lot of time together in the back courtyard of Aunt Luna's house, trying out different types of forms and moves until they found stuff that worked for fire. Sure, they messed up kind of a lot, but Aunt Luna had burn cream, so it was okay. And poking at burns gave Mako an opportunity to learn more about waterbending healing than what she'd managed to glean from asking endless questions of Healer Lightcap under the guise of a child's curiosity. Not that Mako was a child. She was really mature, and she had just turned thirteen, so she was practically a grown-up already. But if grown-ups - actual grown-ups, the boring ones like Healer Lightcap and Miss Tamsin, although Miss Tamsin was more intimidating than boring - thought you were just a little kid, they'd underestimate you, and then you could get away with stuff like asking questions about an element that supposedly wasn't yours.

Chuck was pretty good at firebending, but Mako was better. Chuck was too much Earth, too stiff and stubborn and unyielding to match fire naturally. He could do it, which was weird and probably unnatural but Mako guessed that was what happened when you tangled with kamuiy, but Mako found that fire came so much more easily to her. It was almost like she had been born to bend fire. Which she had, of course, being who she was - she had been born to bend all of the elements. And earth was wonderful, of course - it seemed almost as stubborn and immovable as she felt, sometimes - but fire was _better._ Fire had life, and it flickered and thrummed in her hands like that one time she had caught a cricket-mouse and held it, just for a moment. It had stared up at her with its little eyes, its heart beating quick with fear against her fingers, and then it had leaped away. Fire felt like that - like at any moment it would leap out of her hands and run away.

The difference between fire and a cricket-mouse was that fire could hurt somebody. Cricket-mice sometimes bit, of course, but it was small, barely noticeable. Fire could destroy things - real things, like houses or wagons or fields full of crops. Fire was what had killed Chuck's mom, some time before Mako and Mister Pentecost had met Chuck and Mister Hansen. Mako had heard the story only once, a long time ago. Mister Hansen had started crying while he was telling it, which wasn't right - grown-ups weren't supposed to cry, they were supposed to be able to take care of things - and then Chuck had started crying even though he always insisted that crying wasn't for babies and he never cried because he wasn't a baby. It hadn't been a good day for anybody.

Mako wasn't afraid of fire. It was beautiful, and she knew how to put it out, and if she got hurt by it, she could fix the hurt. As she had been figuring out generally how fire worked, she had discovered that it was a lot like an ostritch-horse. If it knew you were afraid, it would misbehave just because it could and because it knew that you were too scared to do anything about it. But if you respected it and showed it you weren't afraid of it, it would respect you and do what you wanted. And every time the fire did just what she wanted it to, Mako grinned a little wider, and every time she grinned, Chuck gave her a look like he was scared of her. But that was silly - Chuck wouldn't be afraid of her. They were siblings. She'd never hurt him. Even thinking about Chuck being hurt made her feel sick to her stomach with fury.

And she knew Chuck knew that, and that he felt the same way about her. So it didn't make sense that Chuck would look frightened of her.

A lot of things didn't make sense lately. Mako was starting to get really fed up with things not making sense. She didn't really have a way to get the information that she needed, though; the library at Ba Sing Se's university was wonderful, but the librarians looked at you funny if you had to stand on your tiptoes to see over the counter. Besides, being able to use the library depended on actually knowing what information you were looking for. Mako knew there were things she didn't understand, but she didn't know what kinds of questions to ask to get the information she needed to understand those things. She didn't even know what information she needed! It was very frustrating.

But frustration wasn't useful. Frustration wouldn't help her or Chuck learn firebending any faster; in fact, the more frustrated they were, the harder it got to control the fire, and the more frightened Chuck looked, even though he kept trying to pretend he wasn't scared. That was silly, but Mako wasn't going to point it out. She was mature, and even though making fun of Chuck was a regular part of their lives, she knew that this subject in particular wasn't something to be made fun of.

Mako took a deep breath, and re-settled her thoughts, and kept practicing.

\---

**Year 4345**

Spring dragged on into a long, hot summer, longer and hotter than any summer within the past forty years - according to records and to the memories of those who had been alive then, neither of which were terribly reliable - and the fields within the Outer Wall reflected that. A significant fraction were brown and dusty, the crops dead and rotting before they had a chance to become ripe, the animals bloated with dehydration and with the sores of something which, whispered rumors, might be a plague sent from the spirits to strike down insufficiently-pious farmers. Hermann put about as much stock in spirit-tales as he did in the ability of non-airbending humans to fly without mechanical aid, and each rumor he heard made him roll his eyes all the harder. Really, it was exasperating what some gullible idiots would believe. Then again, everyone appeared to keep up with the fiction that there was no war in Ba Sing Se, although that was more likely motivated by fear of the Dai Li than by actual belief.

As the months passed, Hermann got steadily more and more fed up with Newt's ever more obvious and obnoxious advances, which culminated in Hermann waving his cane incredibly threateningly and looking as though he might breathe fire at any minute, at which point Newt finally gave up and left. Everyone's tea was just a little bit too hot that day, but nobody remarked on it, thinking it a quirk of the season. Hermann spent a good twenty minutes breathing deeply after that, hoping nobody would notice that the flames of the stove flared with his every breath, until he was calm enough to serve tea without punching people in the face, which Master Tamsin no doubt would have frowned on.

Newt didn't return for a full two weeks after that, no doubt kept busy by Healer Lightcap as his apprenticeship progressed and his responsibilities increased apace. But he did eventually return, and to Hermann's irritation, he returned on a day when Karla had a day off and had decided to come visit Hermann's place of work. At least she had warned him ahead of time, rather than bursting in unannounced like certain other people he could name.

"It's been six months and I haven't seen where you work yet," she had explained the previous evening over dinner. "I mean, I think that's just a little silly. Yeah, yeah, I know, you haven't seen my workplace either," she had added, catching his skeptical look. "You should, though, if you have a day off sometime. Do you get days off? You better get days off."

Hermann had just shrugged. Of course he had days off (if rarely, since he liked working and Master Tamsin liked it when she had minions to boss around), but he preferred to spend them sleeping, reading, or running through firebending forms (cold, of course, but it still kept his muscles and his chi in practice). Now that Karla mentioned it, however, he felt a little guilty about not making more of an effort to spend time with her. He owed her his life and his freedom, after all, and he did enjoy her company. It wouldn't be a hardship to take a few hours to see her place of employment.

But that would be later. Right now, in this moment, Karla was leaning back on the side of the counter behind which Hermann was definitely not sulking. She had her arms folded and was surveying the tea shop.

"So, where's the cute one you're all steamed up about?" she said, then snickered to herself. "Haha, steamed up. Get it, because you work in a tea shop?"

Hermann sighed. He loved his sister dearly, but her sense of humor left something to be desired.

"Whatever, you know I'm hilarious," Karla said airily. "Not here yet, then?"

Hermann rolled his eyes. She wasn't facing him, so she couldn't see that he'd done that, but it was the principle of the thing. Besides, she knew him well enough that she could make a reasonable guess at his behavior.

They chatted amicably for most of Hermann's shift (well, Karla chatted, Hermann gestured, made facial expressions, and occasionally wrote something down when there was a misunderstanding of his meaning) with no sign of Newt. Hermann was starting to be hopeful that perhaps Newt's streak of not showing up unasked at the shop would continue through the one day Karla was visiting. It wasn't that he didn't want anyone he knew to meet each other; that would have been silly. But Hermann really didn't like Newt, and he really did want Karla to get a good first impression of the place where he worked, and he felt that dealing with such an unpleasant person could only sour the impression of whichever experience was associated with meeting that person.

That, or Karla and Newt would get along splendidly and cackle and grin and plot together to increase the amount of chaos in their general vicinity. Hermann frankly wasn't sure which outcome would be worse, and he didn't want to find out. What he wanted was for everything to go smoothly and for Karla to get a good impression of the shop and its denizens. And as it got on towards evening, the shop filling up with the rush of working people stopping for a cup of tea on their way home, Hermann dared to hope that, for once, he might get what he wanted.

Sadly, it was not to be. Hermann didn't see him come in, most likely due to the large quantity of people in the shop, but that slightly screechy, hoarse cackle rising briefly above the background noise levels could not, unfortunately, be mistaken for anything else. At the sound, Hermann stiffened, then immediately attempted to squash his reaction. Perhaps, if Hermann pretended not to respond to him, Newt would order tea and leave without leaning on the counter and smiling that wide, oblivious grin that made Hermann's desire to punch him in the face even stronger than it normally was. Perhaps, if he displayed no reaction, Karla wouldn't notice that there was anything out of the ordinary about this particular customer.

Wishful thinking wasn't very becoming of a prince, but it wasn't as if he was a prince anymore. The thought hurt, but he squashed that too. He could think as wishfully as he wanted. That still didn't mean he would _get_ what he wanted.

As he had half-expected, all of his hopes were dashed mere minutes after he first heard Newt's voice. Hermann tried very hard not to pay any attention to him, fussing around with kettles and teacups for as long as possible, but eventually, he ran out of things to fidget with. He took a deep breath, forced his face into something he hoped approximated a neutral expression, and turned.

Newt was leaning his elbows on the counter, smiling like Hermann might, in some strange world, be happy to see him. "Hey, man," said Newt. "What's with the face? You look like you swallowed a limon. Do you really hate me that much?"

Hermann did not react, whether with violence or a sarcastic glare. He counted this as a personal victory.

"Can I get a cup of the strawberry white tea?" said Newt. "And seriously, dude, try, like, smiling, maybe. Lookin' a little murderous there."

Hermann just noted down the order and pointed to the board of tea prices. He was not in the mood to humor this idiot.

Newt shrugged. "Okay, cool, don't acknowledge my presence." He handed over the requisite amount of money, then wandered over to an empty table and sat down.

"Wow, Hermann, harsh," said Karla. "I haven't seen you shut someone down like that since that time when - "

Hermann shook his head, eyes wide, wanting to cut her off before she accidentally said something that would reveal who they were.

She just raised her eyebrows. "That was totally unnecessary. I was just going to mention that time when Dad threw that party and that one girl flirted with you. See? Totally non-specific."

Hermann shrugged, turning away to fuss with a teapot. He was a little ashamed that he'd reacted so strongly, but he was still fairly certain his paranoia was justified.

Karla sighed. More quietly, she said, "It's okay to relax, brother mine. This is the safest city in the Earth Kingdom and we've been careful."

Hermann shrugged again.

"Besides, it looks more suspicious to be paranoid," Karla said brightly. "Cheer up! I know you find smiling painful to your spirit, but a less-than-murderous stare probably won't kill you."

Hermann rolled his eyes.

Karla changed the subject. "Anyway, who was that guy? It looked like he liked you."

Hermann sighed, fished out his pad of paper and pencil, and scribbled down Newt's name, occupation, and general behavior, finishing with _he is the most infuriating human being I have ever set eyes on._ He shoved the piece of paper in Karla's direction.

Karla scanned it, her eyebrows rapidly climbing her forehead. "He drives you crazy, huh?" she teased. "You know, most people would just say something like 'I have a big fat crush on this loser and my inability to relate honestly to my feelings makes me interpret that and everything else as anger.'"

Hermann scowled at her and shook his head firmly. He did not have a _crush_ on Newt. What a ridiculous allegation. And the rest of it was absurd too.

"Okay, whatever you say," said Karla. "I'm gonna go talk to him. Don't walk home without me!"

Hermann watched, half-despairing, as his sister plopped down in a chair next to Newt and introduced herself. Sometimes, he hated it when he was right.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, at least it's not as long a wait this time, right?

**Year 4345**

Summer faded slowly into autumn, then winter. As the days grew colder and shorter, so did Hermann's temper. This wasn't surprising; it was common knowledge, even in the Earth Kingdom, that firebenders didn't do well in the cold or in the dark. However, Hermann was fairly sure that he and Karla had been much farther south the previous year, and so hadn't had as bad of a time. They'd only come to Ba Sing Se after the Winter Solstice, when the sun was already starting to come back. It had still been miserable, but it hadn't lasted long.

At least they weren't above the polar circle. At least the sun still rose every day, even if it rose late, its light pale and weak and so often concealed behind a thick layer of clouds. Hermann reminded himself that it could definitely be worse and that he really had no right to complain, and besides, complaining was unseemly.

He still used every chance he had to practice unobserved, especially the technique of pulsing his chi through his blood to keep himself warm. He also made good use of his employee discount; he drank more tea than was probably necessary, but he was _so cold_.

It didn't help that he still hadn't managed to scrape together enough money to buy a decent coat for winter. Karla didn't seem to be affected by the cold. Hermann hadn't noticed last winter, probably because he had been too wrapped up in his own misery to pay attention to anything that wasn't the temperature, but this winter it caught his attention.

It had also been more than a year since he and Karla had run away from Bastien and his ship, and since Hermann's voice had stopped working. His voice still stuck, useless, in his throat, and it was still frustrating, but it had slowly faded to a background irritation, like his stubbornly nonfunctional leg. He was fine with it. He was _absolutely_ fine with it.

Besides, he had more important things to complain about than a stubbornly nonfunctional everything. Or, rather, not complain, because complaining wasn't dignified, and all of the complaining he could do was either in writing or in disgruntled glaring anyway, and that was beside the point. There were some things that were important, and whether or not his limbs and vocal cords cooperated with him were not any of those things.

Hermann had started noticing the Dai Li around more often. He wasn't sure if he was just noticing them more often, either because they were letting themselves be noticed more often or because he was getting better at noticing them, or if they were actually around more often. He was sincerely hoping it was the former, and Karla did continue to reassure him that he was just being paranoid, but the nasty suspicion that it was the latter persisted through all attempts to reason it away.

He also noticed them around far more frequently when he was at work than he did when he was at home, which made things slightly less worrying, but not by much. He bent at work far more frequently than he did at home, after all, what with heating kettles and his own body, and so there was a much higher risk of being noticed. He was careful, of course, but at one point or another that might not matter. It wouldn't take much of anything for the Dai Li to suspect something, and it wasn't like he could defend himself verbally if they arrested him.

He wasn't particularly concerned about himself. He wasn't terribly important in the scheme of things; it wasn't like he did anything interesting, besides disappoint his family and be a burden on his sister and everyone else who knew him. He was worried because, if he was arrested, Karla would also probably be arrested, as well as anyone else either of them knew. Karla didn't deserve that. Nobody deserved that. Not even Newt, who Hermann hated, deserved that. Not to mention that the Dai Li showing up at her door would be a poor way to repay Master Tamsin for her kindness in taking him in and giving him work when he needed help.

He would just have to be even more careful than he already was. It would all be okay. There was nothing to worry about.

Well, yes, all right, there were things to worry about, but worrying about them would be pointless and silly. So he wouldn't worry about them.

\---

**Year 4345**

So, okay, yeah, Hermann was actually kind of an asshole. A cranky, sullen asshole. But his sister was _great,_ and Newt would never have met Hermann's sister if he hadn't met Hermann first, so he guessed it all came out evenly.

And by evenly, he meant _awesomely._ Karla was hilarious, and sarcastic, and talkative, and she actually seemed to like him. Also, wow, she was really pretty, with that long, dark brown hair that looked really soft and those big gray eyes.

Newt was kinda confused as to why he hadn't met her before, since her brother worked at a place where Newt spent kind of a lot of time (too much time, if he was being honest with himself, which he tried not to do any more than was absolutely necessary), but when he'd asked, Karla had just changed the subject. Okay. Newt could roll with that.

So instead of talking about why Karla never hung out with her brother, they talked about kamuiy. Much to Newt's surprise (although he didn't really know why he was surprised), Karla knew a lot about spirits, specifically the ones related to fire and air.

"So…why do you know so much about fire spirits?" Newt asked one evening with his customary tact and sensitivity.

Luckily for Newt, Karla didn't seem offended, just amused. "I mentioned that my brother and I were from the colonies, right? You know, the ones that technically don't exist, because of that thing we don't talk about that doesn't exist within the walls?"

"Uh," said Newt, intelligently, "no? I don't think you did ever mention that. So when you say from the colonies - I mean, uh, the hypothetical ones, if they existed, which they don't - what do you mean? Do you mean, like, you lived there before it might have been a nonexistent colony, or…?"

Karla grinned. "You've noticed that my brother's pretty hot-tempered, haven't you?"

Newt's eyes widened. Hermann was Fire Nation? That sure explained a lot of things. "Uh, yeah," he managed. He was kind of a little speechless.

"You're not gonna freak out, right?" said Karla, eyebrows up. "I mean, I wasn't expecting you to, since you're Water Tribe - you are Water Tribe, right, not some random Earth Kingdom dude who got stuck with waterbending because the spirits love messing with us?"

Newt nodded. "Yeah, I'm Water," he said. He wasn't _technically_ part of the Tribe anymore, at least not the Northern one - he might maybe be part of the Tribe that Master Lightcap and the other waterbenders in Ba Sing Se had formed, and he was planning on spending the upcoming Solstice with them like he had last year, but he wasn't sure about that. Anyway, it didn't matter what Tribe he was or was not part of; what _mattered_ was what he thought himself to be. And he knew he was Water, even if he did have green eyes and even if basically his entire family apart from his dad's mom and maybe his mom's side of the family had been born in the Earth Kingdom. So yeah. Water. "And no, I'm not gonna freak out. Just, uh. That explains kinda a lot of things?"

Karla snickered. "Yeah. Don't let him know I told you, okay? He gets all pissy about the weirdest things, and he really doesn't like you."

Newt sighed and put his forehead down on the table. "Yeah, I figured that one out all on my own. He's, uh, not unclear about his dislike, even if he never bothers to say anything to me. I guess a death glare is worth a thousand words, or something?"

"Oh, it's not just you," said Karla. "Hermann hasn't said a word since - oh, wow, it's been more than a year. No idea why he hasn't been talking, but I don't think it's a physical injury."

"I offered to take a look at it for him one time," said Newt. "He practically bit my head off. Why are we talking about your brother again? Let's go back to talking about kamuiy. Those at least I get. Or at least I get why I don't get them." He was so totally smooth. Unbelievably smooth. So smooth he might just slip and fall all over himself. Wait, no, too late, he already did that, probably. Back on topic. "How about those fire kamuiy, huh?"

Fortunately, Karla seemed more inclined to laugh at him than to turn up her nose and glare. Newt was really glad that she and her brother were so different.

\---

**Year 4345**

Mako was getting really good with the firebending. Chuck…wasn't.

He wasn't bitter or upset! That would be stupid, especially because he _hated_ fire and everything to do with the Fire Nation. He didn't even want to be able to firebend, and it didn't even make any sense that he could! He shouldn't want to be good at it, and he _definitely_ shouldn't be upset that he wasn't good at it and that Mako was.

Well, okay, it was kind of…yeah…that she could do it so well. Chuck didn't want to think about it, about her excited face lit from below with that flickering orange light. Just the fact that she was so happy about it, about being able to _light things on fire with her brain…_

He wasn't thinking about it. Not even a little bit.

And he wasn't scared of the fire. It was just fire. He could control it, most of the time. Well, maybe half the time. And Mako could control it all the time, and he trusted Mako, so there was nothing to be afraid of anyway. Being afraid would be stupid, and despite what Mako said, he wasn't _that_ stupid.

So he wasn't scared of Mako, or of the fire, or of the fact that Mako could control the fire better than he could. And he wasn't scared of the Dai Li, either.

It was just _so frustrating_ that half the time, when he bent, there was barely any fire, and the other half of the time, there was _way too much_ fire.

Anyway, he and Mako hadn't had much time to practice lately; it was getting on towards harvest season and Aunt Luna's mechanic shop was swarmed with people dragging in their plows and other farming-related machinery for tuneups, so much so that Chuck and Mako spent almost all of their time helping out instead of being allowed to run around wherever they wanted. Also, Aunt Luna kept making noises about school, and pointedly looking at Chuck and Mako and (ugh) Raleigh, who was still staying with them for reasons Chuck didn't really get and who Mako liked a whole lot for reasons Chuck understood even less.

But anyway, the point was, there wasn't a whole lot of time to practice, and Chuck was kind of glad about that, even if it made Mako sad. Less time to practice meant less time that he had to think about _firebending_ and about _his baby sister firebending_ and both of those were things that he really didn't want to think about, so it all worked out for the best, really. Except for the part where Mako was sad because she didn't get to play with her new fire toy. Mako being sad really sucked, and it made Chuck sad too, because he really cared about Mako, even if she was annoying sometimes and even if she thought he was dumb and a scaredy-owlcat (which he wasn't! He was cautious, sometimes, but he wasn't afraid of anything!), and he didn't want her to be sad.

As the weather turned colder, Mako dragged Chuck off to Miss Tamsin's tea shop a lot more often. Chuck guessed it was all right there. It was warm, and the tea was nice, and it wasn't usually too loud or crowded. While Mako and (ugh) Raleigh mooned over each other, Hermann and Chuck had a lot of staring contests, although they were really more like glaring contests. Hermann usually won. Chuck hadn't met anybody who was that good at keeping up that level of menace for that long before. He wasn't scared, but he always made sure to sit between Mako and the counter that Hermann worked behind, and he always kept an eye on that cane Hermann had.

And apparently Hermann had a sister, who Chuck hadn't met before, and neither had Mako. Raleigh knew she existed, but only because she showed up sometimes to bother Hermann and that obnoxious healer's apprentice who kept showing up at the tea shop even though nobody liked him and who had a really obvious (and weird) crush on Hermann. (Chuck didn't get it.) Karla was okay, even if she had more energy than Raleigh and Mako first thing in the morning combined (which Chuck hadn't known was possible). Mako liked her, which was a definite point in Karla's favor. Chuck was still going to be suspicious, though, because Hermann was creepy and mean and his sister might be just the same way, except cheerier, since they were related and all.

And the Dai Li were visibly around a lot lately. Well, of course, they were always around and always watching and nobody ever said anything about it even though it was _really weird_ and even after a year in the city Chuck still wasn't used to it, but they were being more obviously present than they usually were. It was creeping Chuck out. At least they were showing up more around Miss Tamsin's tea shop and not as much around Aunt Luna's house and shop.

Not that Chuck would complain about the Dai Li being around. He didn't like it, but he wasn't stupid. He didn't know exactly what the Dai Li did to people, but there had been a regular customer of Aunt Luna's who had been talking about how he didn't like the Dai Li and didn't think that a single group should have so much power and knowledge over and about the people of Ba Sing Se, and he had just - _vanished._ His brother had been the one to come in the next time they needed a mechanic, and when Aunt Luna had asked about the regular guy, the brother just shook his head and didn't say anything.

So Chuck wasn't going to say anything either. He'd just think it really loudly and hope that they couldn't actually read minds. He was pretty sure that reading minds was impossible, so he didn't think that particular hope was too ridiculous.

But apart from the Dai Li, and firebending being frustrating and disgusting and generally awful, and (ugh) Raleigh and Mako mooning all over each other, things were pretty good. His chi was back to normal after that whole thing with that water kamuiy that had eaten the really annoying healer's apprentice. He and Mako had time to do a whole lot of earthbending practice, even if they didn't have as much time or privacy to practice firebending. His dad and Mako's dad both sent regular letters, and both of them seemed to be doing well. Business was going well, apparently, but they both missed their children dearly and would be visiting for the Winter Solstice again.

Chuck wouldn't ever admit this aloud, but he missed his dad. Aunt Luna was great, and there was enough to do to distract an army for weeks, much less one kid (even though he wasn't a kid anymore, he was fourteen by now and that was practically an adult), but even the coolest of distractions wasn't a replacement for leaning against his dad's side and reading a book or a scroll together, or watching his dad take care of his weapons and talking quietly with him about nothing much at all.

But he'd see his dad soon, so it wasn't any use making himself sad and working himself into a moping fit. That would be dumb.

Besides, there was no way he could tell his dad about the firebending. Chuck didn't want to think about what his dad's reaction to Chuck punching flames would be; there was basically no chance that it would be good. His dad _hated_ the Fire Nation; sensibly so, and Chuck agreed with him on that. The Fire Nation were scum who deserved every ounce of pain they'd dealt out to the rest of the world paid back to them with interest.

But Chuck wasn't Fire Nation. Sure, through some freak accident probably having to do with that kamuiy messing with his chi (but what kind of _water_ spirit would smack somebody with _firebending?_ That didn't make any sense) he could light the air on fire now, but that didn't mean he was Fire Nation. He wasn't like that! He was a good person, with a family that he loved and that loved him. Maybe he had a temper, but Earth got angry too! Earthquakes happened! Fire wasn't the only thing that could be upset!

And he wasn't even that good at the firebending. So he wouldn't tell his dad about it until he could show off properly, make his dad proud. As proud as his dad could possibly be of a freak of nature like Chuck's firebending, anyway.

The Winter Solstice was still months away. He had time to think about it.

\---

**Year 4345**

That _insufferable menace_ was back again.

And by insufferable menace, Hermann meant Newt. Karla was working today, so he didn't even have a buffer against the nonstop flood of cheerful chattering.

Newt _never stopped talking._ Hermann couldn't fathom how he did it, especially since he himself hadn't managed to speak a single word in over a year.

There was one nice thing about not being able to say anything, Hermann supposed. He didn't even have to try to make an effort at conversation anymore. Small talk was such a tedious waste of time; no talking meant no small talk, either. He didn't have to respond to anything Newt said, or think of things to say.

It wasn't as if Newt needed any encouragement to talk. He went on and on, without any indication from his audience that his chattering was wanted, needed, or attended to. Hermann might have tried to follow the thread of Newt's babbling, but it quickly became clear that Newt went off on enough tangents that following his train of thought was an impossibility. Ignored long enough, even Newt's grating voice faded into the background murmur of the shop, and Hermann almost smiled to himself as he went about his duties of watching the kettles boil and washing used cups and teapots.

He supposed Newt's voice wasn't actually that grating. Perhaps he was simply becoming inured to its squeaky pitch and occasional shrillness when Newt got particularly excited about something, which he frequently did. Perhaps it had never actually been that bad in the first place, and he'd only reacted as strongly as he had because he had already been irritated that day.

He abruptly realized that Newt had been actually talking to him, as opposed to rambling on about nothing important with Hermann as an unfortunate audience, for the past few moments while Hermann had been lost in thought. He turned his head towards Newt and raised an eyebrow in inquiry.

"I was just saying, dude, you were actually smiling just now. Is it, like, the end of the world or something? Did you kill a guy today and that's why you're so cheery?" Newt said, with his customary tact.

Hermann rolled his eyes and shook his head. Of course he hadn't killed anyone. He wasn't exactly a soldier anymore, not that he had ever been much of one even when he was in his father's good graces. No self-discipline and far too much sensitivity, according to his older brother, and their father agreed. And if it were the end of the world, Hermann would hardly be _smiling_ about it. What kind of lunatic was Newt, anyway?

Newt rolled his eyes right back. "That was a thing called a _joke,_ man. You know, like, those things that people with senses of humor make? I mean, not that I, like, expect you to get what that whole humor thing is - you've probably never made a joke in your life, if I actually sort of know you from all the time I've spent around you, and I hope I do? But yeah, jokes, love 'em, laugh at 'em, maybe tell one once in a while. Or, like, write it down or whatever? Yeah."

Newt had said something along those lines many times in the unfortunate span of months that he and Hermann had known each other. Neither the comment about Hermann's voice nor the comment about his sense of humor was new. They had been irritating the first time, tiresome the second, and had started to lose their sting as time went on.

This time, however, for whatever reason, Newt's words struck a spark on the carefully-contained blasting jelly of Hermann's temper. Without a second thought, Hermann drew in a breath and spoke - or, more accurately, shouted - the first words he'd said in over a year.

"You are a disgusting, obnoxious, horrible little man, and I told you _months_ ago that I did not want you around! I cannot fathom why you have not had the common courtesy to respect my clearly-laid-out wishes, although I don't know why I expected any better of a Water Tribe _peasant_ with no control over the pitch or volume of his voice! Get the scorching hell out of this shop _right now_ and if you dare show your scruffy, unwashed face around here again I will _beat your shins in,_ I swear it!"

Everything went quiet. The low murmur of chatter from the customers in the shop ceased abruptly, and there was a brief clatter of ceramic on wood as several of them set their cups down too quickly. The only sounds Hermann could hear were his breathing, harsh and jagged as if he'd run to the shop from home (and when had his and Karla's small apartment become home? But that wasn't important right now), and his heartbeat thudding loud enough in his ears that it could surely be heard halfway across Ba Sing Se.

"Sweet La on high," Newt finally said, sounding stunned.

"Get out," Hermann repeated. Oh, sweet Agni, his voice was _back,_ it was really back, whatever it was that had been keeping his lips sealed was finally gone. He could hardly believe it.

Newt lifted his hands in a gesture of no-harm-intended. "Okay, okay, I'm going."

Hermann narrowed his eyes and scowled until Newt actually skittered out the door and into the street.

Master Tamsin clapped Hermann on the shoulder, making him jump. How long had she been there? Where had she come from? Why hadn't he heard her approach? He was definitely slipping.

"Take five minutes out back and catch your breath, kiddo," said Master Tamsin. "Not gonna discipline you this time, since, let's be honest, he deserved that, but I'm letting you know that generally, shouting at the customers is super uncool."

Hermann nodded. "I apologize for my rudeness."

"No big deal," said Master Tamsin. "Like I said, he deserved it. And I'm glad you got your voice back. But seriously, five minutes outside, and when you come back in, you're washing _all_ of the dishes."

"Yes, Master Tamsin," Hermann said with another nod, then made his escape.

Outside, leaning against the stone and wood of the shop's wall, Hermann stared fixedly at the ground, his hands shifting absently over the handle of his cane.

His voice was back. His voice was working again.

And, although he was loath to admit it, it was all thanks to Newt.

Hermann really, truly _hated_ that cheerfully irritating healer's apprentice.

 


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of dickishness in this one, oops.

**Year 4345**

Twenty yards away from Tamsin's tea shop and apothecary, Newt stopped, leaned against a convenient building wall, and rested his still-shaking hands on his thighs.

He wasn't certain exactly what he was feeling. There was some fear there, sure; Hermann was unexpectedly terrifying when he was upset. Shock, definitely; he'd known Hermann was cranky, but he hadn't really been expecting that level of vitriol. Shame; he'd known Hermann hadn't wanted him around, but he'd stayed anyway, and wow, he really _was_ an asshole. He guessed he couldn't be all that surprised about the sheer venom in Hermann's voice.

Hermann's voice. Hermann could talk. There hadn't ever been anything wrong with his vocal chords after all. Newt almost wondered if Hermann had been making the whole thing up just to have an excuse not to talk to him.

That kind of ruse would have taken a whole lot of effort, though, and it would also have taken the cooperation of basically everybody who knew both of them. Not that Newt doubted that Hermann could pull something like that off - seemed just sneaky and vicious enough for him. It was more that Newt doubted that Hermann would have considered him worth the bother of such an elaborate setup.

So, probably not faking it. And also probably not a physical injury. What could it have been, then? Newt had heard spirit-tales of stolen voices and stolen faces, but in his research he'd never come across anything that could actually do that. That didn't mean that it wasn't there, but it made it less likely.

Well, whatever it was, Newt guessed it had stopped being a thing for whatever reason, because that kind of tirade wasn't the sort of thing that a person with no voice could do. And Hermann's voice was unexpectedly nice. His accent was weird, yeah, all sharp corners and crackly edges, but they were _interesting_ corners and edges and stuff. Newt would gladly listen to that voice all day long, except for the part where Hermann had been insulting him. Weirdly, the fact that Hermann had such a nice voice made Newt even angrier about the insults and want even more to punch Hermann in the face. He couldn't believe Hermann had called him a peasant. Who even did that? Just who did Hermann think he was, to be looking down on somebody like that? Seriously, ugh.

Newt sighed, stood back up, and dusted his hands off. He wasn't sure he was liking this whole feelings thing, especially when those feelings were directed at Hermann and Newt wasn't even sure what kind of feelings they were. Positive? Negative? Both? La only knew.

That was a problem for another time, though. His lunch break was almost over and Master Lightcap was expecting him back at the clinic soon. Newt huffed a sigh and broke into a jog, hoping he wouldn't be back too late or be too distracted that afternoon.

\---

**Year 4345**

Karla was delighted to hear that Hermann had gotten his voice back. When he told her, she hugged him tightly enough that it seemed to him that she was crushing the air out of his lungs.

"Oh, little brother, I'm so happy for you! That's wonderful!" she exclaimed.

"Yes," Hermann agreed, slightly breathlessly. "It is quite nice."

Karla snickered. "Almost forgot how formal you are," she said. "Go on, tell me - how'd it happen? Did a spirit appear to you and, like, fix it, or what?"

Hermann rolled his eyes. "No, I lost my temper with a customer."

"My version is much more interesting," said Karla. "Any customer in particular?"

"It was Newt," Hermann admitted, mouth drawing automatically into a scowl at the memory of that particular interaction.

"That is so romantic," said Karla.

Hermann stared at her. Had she lost her mind? Were the cold and the lack of sunlight finally getting to her? Not that Hermann could blame her; winter was miserable.

Seeing his skepticism, Karla continued. "Think about it! You were so _passionate_ about your need to share your thoughts with him that it broke through whatever was wrong with your voice!"

Hermann's expression grew more concerned and confused. In what world did what had happened at Master Tamsin's shop in any way match what Karla had just said? "No," he said, after a long pause. "Not even a little bit. Whatever - _feelings_ I might have in Newt's direction are all assuredly of a negative nature."

"Oho, so you do have feelings for him!" said Karla, delighted.

"Negative ones!" Hermann repeated, more sharply. "He is - utterly despicable, and obnoxious, and he refuses to leave me alone!"

"Whatever you say, little brother," said Karla, a knowing expression on her face.

Hermann rolled his eyes and retreated to his bed for the evening. Siblings were terrible.

\---

**Year 4345**

As was the way of things, soon enough the Solstice rolled around again, and Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen came to Ba Sing Se to stay with their family for the holiday.

Mako thought it was pretty hilarious how Chuck pretended he hated everyone and everything, but when Mister Hansen showed up at the door, Chuck basically launched himself across the room to wrap himself around his dad.

Mister Hansen didn't seem to know what to do with a clinging child. Mako tried really really hard not to laugh, because laughing at people wasn't nice or respectful and even if Chuck kind of deserved to be laughed at, Mister Hansen didn't.

Mako greeted Mister Pentecost in a much more contained manner. She still hugged him, but she didn't fling herself at him like she was an earthbent piece of rock. That would have been undignified.

Before Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen had gotten there, Mako and Chuck had had a conversation about the whole firebending thing. Chuck really didn't want to mention anything to do with firebending, especially his own, but Mako thought that they should be honest with Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen. Being honest with your parents was super important, and in every story Mako had ever read, lying never turned out well.

Chuck had made the argument that Mister Hansen hated the Fire Nation and would hate them for being even a little bit like the Fire Nation. Mako had argued back that Mister Hansen would never hate either of them, because he loved them and hate and love didn't go together. Chuck had said that if Mako told Mister Hansen about the firebending, Chuck would never talk to Mako again. Mako had rolled her eyes and agreed, but made the point that they should eventually tell Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen about the firebending. Chuck had muttered darkly and stormed off to sulk somewhere. Chuck did that a lot.

Once Mister Hansen and Mister Pentecost had gotten their things settled in Aunt Luna's guest room, everybody went down to the kitchen to have tea and play cards. Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen knew a lot of card games, and so did Aunt Luna, so they had a lot of things to fill the time with. The grown-ups didn't get distracted enough to forget when Mako and Chuck's bedtime was, though, which was kind of annoying. They weren't babies anymore! They could manage their own bedtimes.

Besides, Mako wanted to spend more time with Mister Pentecost. She had missed him, and she wanted to ask how he had been doing. And maybe, if she was lucky, Mister Hansen would tell her and Chuck about some time or other that brigands had attacked a caravan they were protecting. Mako really liked those stories; they had lots of excitement in them.

Sadly, that would have to happen tomorrow. Mako grumbled all the way up the stairs and into bed. The fact that Chuck wasn't grumbling with her for some reason, like he usually did, made things even worse.

Whatever. Stories and cuddles and time with family tomorrow, Mako guessed.

\---

**Year 4345**

Once the children had gone up to bed, Luna closed the blinds and put on a kettle of water for another pot of tea. Her brother and his partner stayed at the table, dealing out another hand of a pretty simple two-person game, while the three of them waited quietly for the water to boil.

Once the tea was brewed and poured, Luna dealt herself into the game and tried to figure out how to tell Herc and Stacker about what their kids had been up to. She wasn't blind, or stupid, even if Chuck and Mako seemed to think that she wouldn't notice anything they didn't want her to. At least they were being careful enough that the Dai Li hadn't come to take them away yet.

"Just spit it out already," Herc said, after a few hands of tense silence. "Whatever it is, it can't be as bad as that one time when Mako was six and we had to leave town in a hurry."

Luna winced. She knew what time Herc was referring to; Stacker had told her about it before Mako and Chuck had moved up to Ba Sing Se. "It might be."

"Oh, for Guanyin's sake," grumbled Herc. "What've they done now?"

Luna took a deep breath and reminded herself that it would all be okay. "Well, it started this past January, just after the new year…"

As she outlined the events involving the kamuiy and that healer's apprentice, and then the events of the following few months, including Mako and Chuck practicing firebending together where they didn't think she could see, Herc's eyes grew wider and wider and Stacker's brows drew closer and closer together.

"Well, bury me in a landslide," Herc said when Luna was finished.

Stacker gave Herc a look. "This is a surprise," he said. "Not a particularly pleasant one, but of course we're not blaming Mako and Chuck for what's happened."

"Of course," Herc agreed. "The Fire Nation may be scum, but my boy's not one of them just because he can do some fancy trick. And we already knew about Mako, you know that."

Luna breathed an inward sigh of relief. "I'm glad you see it my way. Neither of them know that I know, or that I told you, so if you could avoid mentioning it until they see fit to bring it up, I'd appreciate it."

"Understandable," said Stacker. Luna was glad that her brother had nearly always been the sensible one.

"And you're sure the Dai Li don't know about it?" said Herc.

"If they knew, they'd be breaking down my door," said Luna.

Herc looked relieved.

"It's good they've been careful," said Stacker. He sounded proud of Mako for her sneakiness.

Luna nodded. The rest of the hand passed quietly, each of them caught in their own thoughts about how best to keep Mako and Chuck safe.

"What about, what's his name, Raleigh?" Herc asked abruptly while he was dealing out the next hand. "Does he know about the whole, uh, the whole thing?"

"I don't think so," said Luna. "He's busy, mostly, spends a lot of his time out of the house working. He and Mako get along well, though."

"I noticed that last year," said Stacker. "I'm glad Mako's making friends."

Herc nodded.

When the pot of tea was empty, they bid their goodnights.

_Well,_ Luna thought while she was changing for bed, _at least I don't have to worry about that conversation anymore._ There would be other things to worry about - the Dai Li chief among them - but she and the kids would have their family behind them. That took a whole lot of weight off her shoulders.

\---

**Year 4345**

"It's a stupid idea," said Chuck, pacing back and forth across the floorboards of their shared bedroom a few days before the Solstice. "He'll freak out, and tell, and then we'll get picked up by the Dai Li and never see Dad or Mister Pentecost or Aunt Luna again."

"He won't tell," Mako protested. "He trusts me. If I ask him not to tell, he won't."

"Just because he follows you around like a lovesick puppy doesn't mean he won't go running to the Dai Li like a good little citizen," Chuck snapped.

"You're wrong," said Mako. "Raleigh wouldn't do that. He's from the colonies, remember?"

"So he already thinks that the Fire Nation are scum," said Chuck. "Because he's seen what they do to innocent towns."

"No, that's what _you_ think," said Mako. "He doesn't hate the Fire Nation like you and Mister Hansen do!"

"Then he's an idiot." Chuck sneered.

Mako almost snarled. "I'm going to tell him," she said. "He deserves to know."

"What about what we deserve, huh?" said Chuck. "Don't we deserve to not be terrified that any minute this guy is gonna turn on us and run off to the Dai Li? Don't we deserve our privacy?"

"I guess if your trust issues can't handle it, I can leave you out of it," Mako said sharply. "I have no problem with that."

"Don't you dare," said Chuck. "If you're gonna be in danger I am too, there's no way you're getting out of that."

"Well, I'm telling him," said Mako. "So you can either come along and put up with it, or not come along and put up with it."

Chuck visibly bit back another scathing retort. "Fine. I'll come along. But I won't like it."

"You don't have to like it," said Mako. She flopped back onto her futon. "All you have to do is not be an asshole for ten minutes. I know that'll be hard for you, but I'd appreciate it if you'd try."

"Fine," said Chuck.

"Fine," said Mako. She blew out the lamp.

\---

**Year 4345**

"So what is it you wanted to show me?" asked Raleigh. It was a few days after the Solstice, and Mako had led him to the yard behind their Aunt Luna's house, saying that there was something she wanted him to see. She had sounded almost scared about it, but that was ridiculous, because Raleigh was pretty sure that Mako could beat up anything she wanted to, including him, so he couldn't think of any reason she would be scared of anything.

"I still think this is a terrible idea," Chuck muttered from where he was sulking against the wall.

"Your face is a terrible idea," Raleigh muttered back.

Chuck stuck his tongue out.

Mako rolled her eyes, then held out her hand, palm up. Chuck sighed, approached, and held out his hand similarly.

"Whatever you think, you can't tell anyone," said Chuck. "I mean it. If you tell anyone I'll hunt you down and beat you up."

"You couldn't beat me up," said Raleigh.

"You wanna bet?" said Chuck, dropping the odd stance and stepping forward into a challenging one. "Fight me right now, mate."

"I'd rather not beat up Mako's brother in front of her," said Raleigh. "Think that's considered rude."

Chuck sneered at him. "Wouldn't be any fun anyway," he said. "Too easy. No challenge to it."

Raleigh was about to punch him in the face, rudeness be scorched, when Mako stepped pointedly on Chuck's foot and cleared her throat.

Chuck sighed heavily and stepped back into the odd stance with his hand out.

"In all seriousness, don't tell anyone," said Mako.

"I won't," said Raleigh. He meant it. Whatever they wanted to show him, he couldn't imagine ever betraying Mako like that. It just didn't fit.

Chuck narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"I won't!" Raleigh insisted. "I would _never_ betray Mako like that."

Chuck made a gagging noise. Mako stepped on his foot again.

"Fine, let's go already," Chuck muttered.

Mako rolled her eyes, then counted down. "Three, two, one."

In unison, flames sprouted above both her and Chuck's hands for a few seconds, then winked out.

"Oma and Shu," Raleigh swore. He hadn't seen anyone firebend since Yancy had died, and the thought sent a pang through his chest. Then he remembered something. "Wait, aren't you both earthbenders? I don't understand."

Chuck rolled his eyes. "Why does that not surprise me?" he asked sarcastically.

Mako stepped on his foot again. "It's pretty complicated, Raleigh," she said, glancing anxiously up at the rooftops, where none of them could see the dark green hats of the Dai Li for now. That didn't mean they weren't there, though. "And we should go inside to talk about it."

Raleigh nodded. He understood now why Mako had been scared. Even if Mako could beat up one or two or three Dai Li, she might have some trouble with five or six of them, and they usually wandered around in pretty big groups.

Once Mako had herded Raleigh and Chuck up to Mako and Chuck's shared bedroom, the three of them sat down on the floor on cushions Chuck dragged out of a cupboard.

"So," said Mako. "You remember the water kamuiy from last winter, correct?"

Raleigh shuddered. "Yeah." He'd had nightmares of soft dripping chasing him for weeks.

"And you remember how I almost died?" said Chuck.

"Yeah," said Raleigh. That had been pretty memorable.

Mako and Chuck exchanged a glance.

"We don't know exactly what happened," said Mako. "But we think that when his chi was all ripped up from the kamuiy, something else came in to fill the gap."

"And that something else was fire," Chuck finished, not looking too happy about it.

Right, Raleigh remembered. Chuck hated the Fire Nation and everything to do with them. No wonder Chuck had been sulkier than usual the past while. "But that only explains how Chuck can do the thing," Raleigh said. "What about you, Mako?"

"That is a much shorter story," said Mako.

She paused long enough that Raleigh was beginning to wonder if she actually planned on sharing that story with him, or if she was just going to leave it at that. He'd be okay either way, he thought; if Mako didn't want to tell him something, he was okay with that. He wouldn't push her to say any more than she felt comfortable with. That would be mean, and doing that would make him the sort of person who wasn't worthy to even look at Mako, much less listen to her share important things.

"Having second thoughts? Good," said Chuck. He sounded pleased, but in a nasty sort of way, like he thought Raleigh didn't deserve to hear whatever Mako was going to say.

Mako punched him in the shoulder. "Go boil your toes," she said. "And while you're at it, see if you can't boil off some of those bad manners. Mister Hansen would be disappointed in you."

"And I care about that why?" Chuck asked, his posture instantly stiffening and turning more aggressive. "I don't care what Dad thinks."

Mako rolled her eyes. "You're a terrible liar. Now shut up and let me tell the story."

Chuck grumbled, but shut up. Raleigh was pretty sure Mako was magic, to be able to just make Chuck shut up like that.

There was another long pause.

Eventually, Raleigh said, "So, the story?"

"I'm the Avatar," Mako blurted out.

Raleigh was pretty sure he'd heard wrong. Wasn't the Avatar some old Earth Kingdom dude? "What?" he said.

"I'm the Avatar," Mako said again, more steadily this time. She twirled her hand, and the water in the pitcher on top of the cupboard the pillows had been in rose to greet her, wobbling a little but clearly under her command, just like the fire had been only a few minutes earlier and just like Raleigh had seen earth be every time he trained with Chuck and Mako. Once her point had been made, she returned the water to the pitcher.

"Scorch me to cinders," Raleigh said, awed. The Avatar was a spirit-tale, someone you heard about who lived very far away and only interacted with very special people. To think that someone who he'd lived with for just under a year, someone he'd gotten to know well, someone he thought he was building a pretty strong friendship with - to think that someone like that could be the Avatar was mindblowing.

"You say that a lot," Chuck said suspiciously, totally ruining the moment. "That's a Fire Nation saying."

"Yeah, and?" said Raleigh, cocking his chin challengingly. "You wanna say something about that? I was born in the colonies, dumbass, and you already knew that."

Chuck got to his feet, eyes narrowed and fists clenched. "You and the rest of your murdering brethren disgust me," he hissed. "Everyone would just be so much better off if the whole Fire Nation just - went away. All you do is burn and kill and conquer and destroy - "

He probably would have said more, but Raleigh lost his temper, stood up too, and punched Chuck in the face. He was just so tired of hearing his dad's people talked about like that. Sure, okay, the previous Fire Lord had started a war that had wrought more havoc than anything else in recorded history, but that was the fault of the Fire Lord, who was just one person. Most of the people in the Fire Nation were just ordinary people, like most of the people in the Earth Kingdom!

Chuck punched back, of course, and then Raleigh kicked him in the shin, and then Chuck shoved Raleigh. They probably would have kept fighting until one or the other of them couldn't fight anymore, but Mako stood up, stepped between them, whacked both of them across the head, and pushed both of them back down to the floor.

"I am finished watching you two fight," said Mako. "If you want to kill each other, you can do it outside in the practice yard and call it sparring, but if _either of you_ hurts the other enough that you need a healer, I am never speaking to _either of you_ again. Am I clear?"

"Clear, Mako," said Raleigh, feeling ashamed of himself for losing his temper like that in front of Mako. Yeah, Chuck had deserved that punch in the face, but maybe Raleigh could have done it at another time. When they were sparring, maybe, like Mako had suggested. Mako was so smart.

"Sure, go ahead and act all nice now," Chuck sneered. "Not like you're not gonna stab me in the back later, right?"

Raleigh took a deep breath and did not punch Chuck in the face.

Mako sighed. "I'm going to let you two talk it out," she said. "Again, if you want to fight, do it outside." With that, she left, closing the door behind her. A minute or so later, her footsteps thudded down the stairs.

"What is your problem?" Raleigh demanded.

"My _problem_ is you," Chuck said sharply. "Look at you - you blend in here, you look like any other Earth Kingdom guy, but it's all a lie! Are you a spy, or, or, or a - "

"You know how my brother died, Chuck?" Raleigh interrupted.

That shut Chuck up, at least temporarily. "No," he said suspiciously.

"He was killed by an Earth Kingdom village," Raleigh said calmly. It still hurt to remember, but it had been more than two years since then, so the pain wasn't as sharp as it had been. "You call the Fire Nation murdering scum, but the Earth Kingdom are the ones who are so set in their biased, hateful ways that they saw a kid - not hurting anybody, just passing through - who happened to be trying to keep himself and his brother warm on a cold day, and their first reaction was violence!" As he spoke, his voice got louder and angrier until he was practically screaming in Chuck's face.

"But that was just one village," Chuck argued. "Not all of us are like that!"

"Yeah, and not all of the Fire Nation kills people, either!" Raleigh shot back. "And most of the ones who do are just following orders they literally can't disobey unless they want to die!" He didn't know much about loyalty on a personal level, since he wasn't affected by it the same way Yancy and their father had been, but he'd overheard their father explaining it to Yancy once, when both Raleigh and Yancy had been little and Jasmine hadn't even been born yet. From what Raleigh understood, disobeying someone you owed loyalty to was a death sentence. Your commanding officer didn't even have to hunt you down, either - your own fire would just go out.

Chuck didn't have anything to say to that.

"Besides, you're halfway to Fire Nation already, being a firebender and all," Raleigh added, just to twist the knife. Sure, it was cruel, and probably unnecessary, but Chuck deserved it. "So tone down the self-loathing already. It's pathetic."

With that parting shot, Raleigh went downstairs to see if he could find Mako, leaving Chuck sitting, shocked into silence, on the floor.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is entirely newt and hermann.

**Year 434 6**

"You know, you can't avoid him forever," Karla said into the darkness of their tiny apartment.

Hermann ignored her, pretending he had already fallen asleep. He could, in fact, avoid Newt for as long as he wanted. Ba Sing Se was a big city. It would probably be easier to avoid Newt than to run into him by chance.

"And I know you're not sleeping, you don't look that tense when you're asleep," she added. "C'mon, brother mine, it's been, what, two months?"

It had, in fact, been two months, one week, and three days, not that Hermann was counting. The Solstice was long since past, the sunlight was finally coming back, and Hermann hadn't seen Newt since Hermann had threatened to beat Newt's shins in.

Hermann definitely didn't miss Newt. He didn't miss Newt's screechy, grating voice, or his constant, obnoxious presence, or his stupid, irritating laugh, or his idiotic smile, or the way his hands flailed and his voice cracked when he got excited about something, which was frequently. He didn't miss anything at all about that menace.

Master Tamsin's tea shop was quieter lately, even with Raleigh continually trying to engage Hermann in conversation now that Hermann had his voice back. The quiet was a nice change, and allowed Hermann to actually get things done in a prompt and efficient manner rather than constantly shifting his focus back and forth between work and whatever inane thing Newt was prattling on about this time.

It was just a little odd not having as much background noise, that was all. It wasn't anything more than a slight discomfort with the atypical, which wasn't strange. Much to his family's exasperation, Hermann had never done well with abrupt or unexpected changes to an established schedule or routine, and Newt being gone was nothing more than a change to the old routine. A change for the better, definitely, but still a change to be adjusted to.

"Hermann," Karla said, almost gently. "It's okay. You're allowed to do things like miss people you like."

"But I _don't_ like him," Hermann protested automatically before realizing that he'd played right into Karla's strategy for getting him to admit he was awake. Singe it. Well, he might as well carry on, since his pretense of sleep was already broken. "He's awful and obnoxious and the merest suggestion of his presence makes me want to set him on fire."

"You do miss him, though," said Karla.

"That is incorrect in so many different ways," Hermann snapped.

"You're a terrible liar," said Karla. Her blankets rustled as she shifted, trying to get more comfortable on her thin futon. "You miss him. You've been mopey and even crankier than usual since you snapped at him."

"I do not mope," said Hermann. "That is patently absurd. Moping is terribly undignified." Yes, he had been quiet lately, but he was getting accustomed to actually being able to talk again. His first response to things still wasn't to talk; he may have once broken through whatever had been blocking his throat, but words didn't come as easily as they had before he and Karla had taken that lifeboat over the side of Bastien's ship.

"See my previous comment about you being a terrible liar," Karla said. Her voice was gentle, more joking than harsh, but Hermann still flinched and hid his head under his pillow. "Although the bit about moping being undignified was true."

"You are the worst elder sister anyone could wish on their worst enemies," Hermann muttered. That, at least, was untrue; Karla was wonderful and Hermann didn't deserve her love and all of her help.

"Love you too, brother mine," said Karla. Her blankets rustled again, and she stopped bothering him.

Hermann shifted, trying to get comfortable and failing. He always ached, of course, but it was worse when the damp and chill of late winter could seep through his limbs and into his bones, taking up residence especially in the scarred flesh of his left thigh and seeming to laugh at his pitiful attempts to stay warm. Even the oddly-colored fire he'd been practicing with off and on didn't seem to be doing as much good anymore.

Winter was almost over, though. He'd survived worse than a bit of cold and a (definitely welcome) break from that waterbending menace. It would be fine.

\---

**Year 4346**

"I still really miss him," Newt sighed, resting his forehead on the smooth wood of Master Lightcap's worktable.

"That's pathetic, kiddo," Master Lightcap said cheerfully. She reached across the piles of herbs they were assembling into remedies to ruffle his hair.

"I know," Newt said miserably. He picked his head up and started sorting herbs again, because self-pity wouldn't get the work done and the remedies needed to be put together before spring's hayfevers started kicking in.

It had been just over two months since he'd seen Hermann last. He'd kept himself busy, of course; there was a lot of healing to learn, and there was always work to do around Master Lightcap's clinic. But he really felt that his day wasn't complete without being glared at for no good reason by a grumpy teashop worker. He wasn't even being sarcastic, there - somehow, chatting at Hermann had become part of his daily routine, and without that piece, everything felt incomplete. But he wasn't sure how to start that up again, what with how they'd last parted.

Newt thought he probably owed Hermann an apology for being way too persistent and clingy and obnoxious, but Hermann had threatened to beat his shins in if he showed his face again, and, honestly, Newt was a little scared. Most of the time Hermann wasn't that intimidating. Cranky, yeah, sure, but Newt got the impression that his bark was usually worse than his bite. That day when Hermann had finally snapped had been something else.

Then again, Newt would probably deserve it if Hermann beat his shins in. Thinking back on his own behavior over the past year or so, Newt cringed internally. Wow, he was such an asshole. How had Master Lightcap managed to put up with him all this time? It seemed like she must have the patience of an earthbender.

As the afternoon wore on, Newt debated with himself over whether to go apologize to Hermann or not. On one hand, Newt no longer being terrified of Tamsin's tea shop and apothecary would make it a lot easier for Master Lightcap to get the herbs she needed, and that would be good. And attempting to make nice with Hermann would hopefully lead to a restoration of what little social life he had. On the other hand, Hermann would be angry - rightfully so - and Newt's self-preservation instincts (because calling it that sounded so much better than "cowardice") shied away from the thought of Hermann's cane beating Newt's shins in.

By the end of the day, when the sun had gone down and Master Lightcap had closed up the clinic for the night, Newt had decided in favor of going and apologizing.

Was he terrified? Absolutely. Was he going to do it anyway, because patching together what community he had was worth it? Yeah, he guessed.

Newt reminded himself to take deep breaths as he shoved his shoulders back, standing up straight and at least pretending to be slightly confident. It would be okay. Hermann probably wouldn't actually kill him.

He nudged through the door to Tamsin's tea shop, making the little bell above it jingle, and strolled up to the counter.

\---

**Year 4346**

Hermann could not believe the nerve of that nuisance of a healer's apprentice. Hermann had told him that he would beat his shins in if he showed his face again, and what did Newt do? Appear near the end of Hermann's shift, when the shop was empty, when Raleigh had already been collected by Chuck, Mako, and their Aunt Luna, and when Hermann was tired and cranky and wanting to go home, with a grin on his stupid, irritating face.

"Get out," Hermann demanded before Newt could open his mouth to spew some inanity in his direction.

"I wanted to apologize," Newt said.

Hermann wasn't sure he'd heard correctly. "I beg your pardon?" His tone was icy.

"I said I want to apologize," said Newt. "For, uh, the last time we saw each other. That was totally out of line. And also for basically all of the time we've known each other. I've been really obnoxious and I'm sorry for that."

Hermann was half-convinced that he had fallen asleep at the counter and this whole encounter was a bizarre dream. There was no other explanation for Newt actually apologizing for actions for which he had previously expressed no regret.

Newt shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, reminding Hermann that he was staring blankly and that some kind of response was probably expected.

What could he possibly say to that, though? He could refuse to accept the apology, which was likely completely reasonable as a course of action, given the duration and intensity of Newt's harrassment. Then again, Newt did actually look penitent, and the apology seemed genuine. Not that Hermann could tell such things, of course; he'd always been terrible at figuring out when people were lying to him, which was a fatal flaw in the Fire Lord's court. Yet another reason he didn't deserve a place at his father's side.

Hermann knew how his father would react in this situation; there would be fire, and screaming, and no mercy whatsoever. If he were trying to be a loyal son and prince, that would be how he should react. Perhaps without the fire, since the Dai Li were still ever-present.

But he'd already broken his loyalty to his father, and he'd survived that. And he supposed it had been a trifle odd, not to have Newt barging in every afternoon to chatter in his direction.

"Your apology is accepted," Hermann said finally. "However, I shall expect a change in your behavior for the better. Are we clear?"

Newt looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Are - are you serious, dude?"

"Of course I'm serious," Hermann said, offended. "Insincerity is the last resort of the stupid."

Newt started laughing.

"If you're only going to mock me, I can rescind that acceptance of your apology," Hermann snapped, flushing with humiliation. He knew he shouldn't have accepted that apology; he should have known that it was insincere, because it was Newt, and an apology like that was completely out of character for him, unless it was done in jest.

"I'm not mocking you," Newt said, breathless with giggles. "Just - I am totally not surprised you would say something like that."

Hermann rolled his eyes and sighed while Newt got himself and his (obnoxious, definitely not charming in the least) laughter under control. He understood by now why Newt got along so well with Karla - they were very similar people. "Amazing, that my behavior might be consistent from day to day," he said sarcastically.

Newt rolled his eyes right back. "Whatever, dude. Can I, like, get a cup of tea or whatever?"

"No," Hermann said, completely deadpan. "How dare you come to a tea shop and ask for a cup of tea. Clearly that is not the intended purpose of this place of business whatsoever."

Newt narrowed his eyes. "You're messing with me."

"Such astute observational skills you have," said Hermann. "I am amazed. For your next trick, you might even deduce that the sky is blue, or that earthbenders can move rocks." Of course he was messing with Newt. Newt had been needling him nearly constantly for the past year; now that Newt seemed appropriately contrite for his behavior, Hermann was perfectly within his rights to get his own back. It was all in good fun, of course. He would never intend to actually hurt Newt's feelings. That would be unkind, and Hermann was a very kind person. (Even thinking that made him want to start laughing, it was so ridiculous.)

"Wow, okay, I see the snark is coming out in full force in a totally harsh and unnecessary way," said Newt. "Seriously, can I get a cup of tea?" He squinted at the board declaring which blends were available that day. "The limon-orange green tea, with honey?"

"Well, if you insist," said Hermann, deliberately sounding more put-upon than he actually was. He stood from the tall stool behind the serving counter and shuffled over to where the kettles steamed faintly on the stove, one heating to boiling, the others cooling. They'd need to be rotated again soon; the last one was just past the temperature used for brewing white tea, which Hermann could tell just by brushing his energy across the kettles. Firebending and its ability to tell how hot things were found great use in Master Tamsin's shop.

A cup and the tin of the appropriate tea were retrieved from their cupboards, along with one of the delicate wire mesh balls Master Tamsin kept around for brewing single cups of tea. Automatically, Hermann filled the ball, dropped it in the cup, and filled the cup with water from the kettle of the appropriate temperature. While he waited for it to steep, he shuffled the kettles around and fetched down the honey from its cupboard. All of the cups, spoons, and teapots that had been used that day were already clean, dry, and put away; the past hour or so had been quiet, and being idle when he could be getting things done so he could go home on time would be silly.

Finally, Hermann removed the mesh ball from the cup, emptied the ball into the bucket used for used tea, rinsed it, and stirred two spoonfuls of honey into the cup. The amount of honey was a guess, but a logical one; Newt seemed like the type of person to enjoy sweet things. He placed the cup of tea on the serving counter and settled back onto the stool. "Your tea."

Newt was staring at him oddly.

"What?" Hermann snapped.

"Uh," said Newt. "Nothing. Uh. Can I see your hands?"

"What?" Hermann said again, more confused than indignant this time.

"You just picked up, like, four hot kettles without a potholder," said Newt. "You probably burned your hands, and your pain tolerance must be, like, insane, because you didn't even flinch, and I just wanna see your hands to see if I can, like heal the burns or something?"

Hermann froze. Most of the time, he remembered to use potholders when handling the kettles. He didn't need them, of course; he could bend the heat away from his hands without a problem, and almost never got burned if he was expecting there to be flame or warmth. But he'd forgotten them this time, although he wasn't sure why; it wasn't like he was remotely comfortable enough around Newt to forget he was there. This was a problem. He'd been so careful - he was _positive_ nobody knew about his bending - and he might have just ruined everything he and Karla had worked so hard for in a moment of carelessness. Slowly, unwillingly, he rested his hands on the counter, unblemished palms facing up.

"Ice me over and sink me deep," Newt breathed. "They're not even red."

Hermann stared fixedly at the counter. All it would take now was Newt putting the pieces together, then reacting. Newt was not a subtle person, nor someone who was good at concealing things, as far as Hermann knew him. Very soon, Hermann's and Karla's lives as they knew them would be over, again. It would be entirely Hermann's fault, again. _I'm so sorry, Karla,_ he thought. She didn't deserve any of this. She deserved to still be safe and content in their Father's court.

Newt was visibly putting the evidence together. "Tui and La bless me, you're a firebender," he murmured, shaking his head in disbelief. "Well, that explains a lot of things."

Hermann said nothing and continued to stare at the clean, polished wood of the counter. The block in his throat, that had prevented him from speaking for so long and had only melted away a few months ago, had returned, at least for the moment, and he found himself unable to form any words in response. It was fitting, hesupposed, that the person who made the block go away would be the one to make it return. What could he even say to this? Not to tell anyone? That was ridiculous. Of course Newt would tell someone. As a citizen of Ba Sing Se, he would have to.

"I'm guessing you don't want me to tell anyone," said Newt, seemingly unconcerned about Hermann's nonresponsiveness. "Don't worry. I can keep a secret."

That finally snapped Hermann out of his head. He stared incredulously at Newt and raised his eyebrows to express his disbelief.

"Yeah, I know, I don't look it," Newt said easily. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the counter, almost upsetting his steaming cup of tea, which he still hadn't paid for. "I'll tell you something, though. A secret for a secret. I haven't told anyone else this, not even Master Lightcap."

Hermann wondered why Newt would tell him something that even his master didn't know, and tilted his head to the side and furrowed his eyebrows to indicate this confusion.

Newt leaned in even further, close enough that Hermann could feel Newt's damp, warm breath on his ear, and whispered, "I was banished from the Northern Water Tribe for accidentally summoning the spirit of the Ocean to its giant form." He pulled back, dug a few coins out of his pocket - exact change for the tea, Hermann noted absently - then scooped his tea off the counter, leaving the coins in the cup's place. In a more normal, but still quiet, tone of voice, Newt said, "And in my Tribe, banishment means nobody talks to you. Ever. You stop existing, basically. So that's why I haven't told anyone, especially not anyone Water. Guessing you probably have a similar story. You can tell me if you want, or you can not. Whichever. I won't tell anyone else, about that or about the whole bending thing. Trust me." With that impossible request, Newt took his tea over to one of the tables, sat down facing away from Hermann, and settled in to enjoy his tea as if nothing had happened.

Hermann sat, staring in shock at the back of Newt's head, while his mind struggled to process what had just happened.

Newt knew he was a firebender. That by itself was cause for panic, but when combined with the evidence of Newt's surprising ability to keep a secret, it was less stressful.

And he hadn't pried about Hermann's past. That was a point in Newt's favor; it did not outweigh the hundreds of points against him that he had stacked up over the time he and Hermann had known each other, but it added something to balance the scales a little.

Newt finished his tea and left the shop, and Hermann had still said nothing to him.

The city's clocks chimed the hour; it was the end of Hermann's shift. He shook himself out of his daze, washed the cup Newt had used, clocked out, and went home, slow, distracted, and leaning more heavily on his cane than usual. He was so tired, and the rush of emotions that had flooded through him during Newt's visit to the shop - anger, forgiveness, humiliation, panic, relief - had drained what was left of his energy.

He didn't speak to Karla when he arrived at their apartment; he only curled up on his futon, huddled under the thin blankets, and fell restlessly asleep. He dreamed of Newt's smile, Newt's laughter, and the gentle flickering of the oddly-colored fire.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things take a turn for the worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh god this is late. so late. so very, very late. my deepest apologies. it's a little longer than usual, though; hope that makes up for it.

**Year 4346**

Chuck and Mako visited Master Tamsin's tea shop frequently, as did both Newt and Karla, but it was rare for all four of them to be in the shop at the same time. It was doubly rare for all four of them to be in the shop at the same time and to have that time coincide with one when both Raleigh and Hermann were on shift and when Master Tamsin was not.

So it was not an otherwise ordinary day when the Dai Li glided into the shop in two neat, deathly silent lines and arrested everybody, but neither was it exceptionally out of the ordinary. Until the Dai Li arrested everybody, that was.

Hermann was too shocked to react, feeling sick with terror and despair. _How did they find out?_ He stood, shaking, his grip white-knuckled on his cane, his throat stopped up and silent. He had been so sure that no one knew he and Karla were Fire Nation, but apparently he was wrong.

And it didn't make sense that the Dai Li were arresting everybody, not just the two from the Fire Nation. Unless the Dai Li thought Chuck and Mako and Raleigh and Newt were collaborators? But why would they think - oh. Right. Of course.

_This is my fault._ If not for him, none of them would be under suspicion. He should never have come here, to this city without the war. As usual, he ruined everything.

While Hermann was standing frozen, the Dai Li were putting handcuffs on everyone. He barely noticed when they got to him; he didn't register the agent's closeness until the cool metal was already around his wrists, and by then it was too late to protest or retrieve his cane from where it had fallen on the floor.

The Dai Li bundled all six of them into the back of one of their windowless wagons. The door closed and latched, leaving them in the dark. The ostritch-horse drawing the wagon started off, the rumble of wheels on cobblestones jolting through the captives' bodies.

Distantly, Hermann registered the sound of somebody crying and trying to stifle the sound.

"It'll be okay, Raleigh," Mako's voice murmured quietly. "It'll be okay." She didn't sound like she believed herself.

The wagon rattled and bumped for a while longer. Hermann lost track of time. Suddenly, there was an abrupt jolt downwards, and the doors at the back of the wagon opened. All six captives blinked in the comparatively blinding light of a few torches.

"What's going on?" Chuck demanded. He sounded like he was trying to be confident, but he just sounded scared. Hermann didn't blame him.

"You do not need to know that information," said one of the Dai Li agents. "Do not ask again."

"What are you gonna do if I do, huh?" said Chuck.

"Nothing," said the Dai Li agent. Somehow, that was more ominous than any threat could have been. A shiver went down Hermann's spine. Chuck didn't say anything else.

Each of them was taken to a separate cell, all of which were lined with metal, completely dry, and, once the door was closed, completely dark. Trapped in a small, lightless box, miles away from any sunlight, Hermann tried very hard not to panic. Panicking was undignified and unsuitable for a prince, and even if he wasn't a prince anymore, that wasn't an excuse for dishonorable conduct. He had to stay calm.

The air kept trying to catch in his throat, and it didn't feel like his lungs had enough space to expand. He forced his breathing to stay smooth and even and his muscles to stay limp. He couldn't do anything right now, so getting worked up wouldn't do anything. He folded his good leg under the knee of his bad one, rested his hands on his thighs, closed his eyes, and deliberately breathed slowly and deeply.

\---

**Year 4346**

Mako was infuriated. How dare the Dai Li just walk into random tea shops and arrest innocent citizens? Surely there was some kind of law against this sort of behavior. She would be extremely disappointed with the people who wrote laws otherwise.

The cell she'd been locked in was small, and dark, and there wasn't any earth or water or anything to set fire to. She thought it was probably that way on purpose, meant to drive any bender to the brink of despair so it would be easier for the Dai Li to…do whatever they were going to do. Mako had no idea what happened to people the Dai Li made disappear.

Oh, spirits, what was Aunt Luna going to think? Miss Tamsin? Healer Lightcap? Mako remembered how they'd reacted when Newt had been almost eaten by a spirit and the rest of them had gone off to rescue him.

_Just one more reason to kick the Dai Li's butts,_ she thought.

Somewhere outside her tiny metal box, a door slammed. Any sound was muffled, so she couldn't tell what direction it came from, and the knowledge wouldn't have done her any good anyway. It wasn't like she knew the outline of this weird underground Dai Li hidey-hole. And it probably wouldn't matter if she did; an earthbender could change that outline as easy as breathing.

This was what Mister Pentecost had been afraid of. When he and Mister Hansen had visited for the Solstice that past winter, Mister Pentecost had taken her and Chuck aside and sat them down the day before Mister Pentecost and Mister Hansen were going to leave.

"I haven't told you this before because I didn't want to frighten you, but I think you're old enough to know now," Mister Pentecost had begun. "Mako, you know you're the Avatar, and a little bit of what that means, and that I asked you to keep it a secret, but you don't know why. I'm going to tell you."

Mako had nodded, excited that her father was finally trusting her with the reason they'd packed up their entire family and moved across the continent so many years ago.

Mister Pentecost had explained what had happened to the previous Avatar. How, once he'd been identified, the Dai Li (which had existed even back then) had picked him up and taken him off to wherever they kept dangerous and important things. How the previous Avatar had been trained very carefully to keep him from ever questioning the Dai Li or even wanting to escape.

"But the Avatar is the bridge between our world and the spirits'," Mako had said. "How did they get away with it? Wouldn't the spirits have struck them down?"

Mister Pentecost had shaken his head. "They made the Avatar keep up with consolation rituals, and they went through all the motions. It was enough to keep the spirits from directly attacking them."

"But how did the Dai Li get to somebody in the Water Tribe?" Chuck had asked. "Aren't they only in the Earth Kingdom?"

"The last Avatar _was_ Earth Kingdom," Mister Pentecost had said.

Chuck had drawn back in horror when he realized what Mister Pentecost had meant, and Mako was still pretty sure that that had been the worst thing that had ever happened to her, even including getting kidnapped by the Dai Li.

"So I'm…I'm from the Fire Nation?" Mako had asked.

Mister Pentecost had nodded, then explained how he'd found her when she was just a tiny child, the only one left alive in the ruins of a burned-out village, how her parents must have fled the Fire Nation and the war, and how the war had eventually caught up to them.

Chuck had been really upset to find out that his little sister was actually from the Fire Nation, but he'd gotten over it eventually and even apologized for being terrible to both her and Raleigh.

And now, even after all of the precautions that had been set up, the Dai Li had her. If they had their way, she was going to spend the rest of her life in a tiny metal box just like this one.

She wasn't going to let them have their way. She would find a way out of this box, and when she did, the Dai Li would be really, really sorry they'd ever messed with Mako or her family.

\---

**Year 4346**

There was no earth, and no sunlight, and Chuck hated that that second one affected him as much as the first one did.

This was probably his fault. He'd been careless, and the Dai Li had found him somehow, and they'd decided to arrest everyone he'd associated with because there was no war in Ba Sing Se and any hint of that war was apparently grounds for being disappeared.

Before Chuck could wallow in guilt too much, the door slammed open, admitting the eerie, pale green glow of the crystals the Dai Li used for light. Two Dai Li stood silhouetted in the doorway.

Chuck tried to fight, but the Dai Li were stronger than he was in both muscle and earthbending, and he didn't dare use firebending; they might suspect, and he might have messed up or been careless somehow, but he didn't need to hand them proof.

Despite Chuck's struggling, the Dai Li dragged him down endless corridors that seemed to twist and turn back on themselves in a way that made it impossible to tell which direction they were going at any one point in time. After what seemed like an interminable length of time, they arrived at a small room containing a lantern on a circular stone track, another Dai Li agent, and a tall-backed chair made of the same rock the whole place was carved into. The two Dai Li holding Chuck forced him into the chair and bent its arms, legs, and back around his hands, feet, and middle. With solid stone holding him in place, he could barely breathe, much less move. The final touch was a ring of stone bent around from the top of the back of the chair to hold his head in place. That creeped him out almost more than the aggressively silent Dai Li, the pale green glow of every light source except that lantern, or the other restraints.

The two agents who had been holding Chuck exited, leaving Chuck alone with the third agent.

The agent made a gesture, the lantern began to move on its circular track, and Chuck's world greyed out.

\---

**Year 4346**

Hermann had a lot of practice meditating under stress. He lived most of his life under stress, and meditating was meant for when there was so much stress that sitting down and forcing calm was necessary to avoid an explosion, whether that be figurative or literal.

The floor of his cell was uncomfortable. He couldn't feel the sun. He had failed his sister and those they deemed friends.

He sat, and breathed.

In for a count of five, hold for a count of three, out for a count of eight. In for a count of five, hold for a count of three, out for a count of eight. His fingertips, resting on his knees, slowly beat out the proper rhythm to follow.

He'd already known he was a failure. His father had told him so every time Dietrich or Bastien outperformed him, or any time Hermann made a fool of himself in court, both of which happened frequently. Hermann no longer owed loyalty to his father, but the Fire Lord's words still held true. He'd failed to catch the Avatar. He'd failed to stay hidden in Ba Sing Se. He'd failed to pay his sister back for all of the things she had done for him.

In, and hold, and out. In, and hold, and out.

Hermann imagined a broom, to sweep out all of his thoughts. Instead of working as intended, the image reminded him of the year and a half (how had it been so long?) he'd spent working for Master Tamsin.

It really wouldn't look good that he'd vanished without explanation. He thought back and realized he'd left his cane on the floor of her shop. Fantastic. That would make getting out of here even more difficult that it already would be, given that he was separated from the others, only two of their group were earthbenders, and probably neither of them trusted Hermann very much. But Raleigh trusted Hermann (or at least Hermann thought he might; he didn't know how accurate that perception was, though), and Mako and Chuck trusted Raleigh.

In, and hold, and out. In, and hold, and out.

Given the facts, he wasn't very likely to make it out of here at all, much less before the Dai Li did whatever they did to captured firebenders. Hermann almost hoped it was something as merciful as death, given the many, many alternatives. Earth was stubborn and unyielding, but Hermann was fairly sure that the Dai Li could be creative, given inspiration.

Never give up without a fight. He would make it out of here, and he would make sure Karla and the others got out too. He didn't care how unlikely it was. It was also unlikely that he and Karla would have been able to get away from Bastien, to get into Ba Sing Se, to pass unnoticed for as long as they had, and they had done all of those things.

In, and hold, and out. In, and hold, and out.

At least he could stop hiding his firebending now. He hadn't been able to bend, other than in small, invisible ways, since he and Karla had washed up on the shore after Bastien. His energy was tired, sluggish to respond after so long being uncalled-upon, but meditating was helping with that. Fire came from the breath, and his breath was slow and even.

When the door opened to reveal two Dai Li agents, Hermann lashed at them with a sharp line of fire. The flames barely flared up before they flickered out against the Dai Li agents' hats and gloves.

The Dai Li didn't say anything as their gloves latched firmly, bruisingly, around Hermann's upper arms.

While the agents dragged him down endless, circuitous hallways, Hermann forgot every lesson on princely decorum that had ever been drilled into him by etiquette instructors. He yelled, kicked fire, even went limp and deliberately heavy in protest. None of it seemed to faze or even attract the attention of the Dai Li.

Then there was a heavy, high-backed stone chair, and a silent, waiting agent, and a circling lantern, which was oddly familiar, and nothing else.

\---

**Year 4346**

No light. No air. All of their efforts to remain hidden had failed.

Karla wasn't surprised, if she were honest with herself, which she tried to be as much as possible. The surprise was that they had hidden themselves this long.

Ba Sing Se had been almost restful. She had been able to feel her shoulders finally relaxing, after all that time they had been stiff and on guard while she and Hermann had been chasing rumors all over the world. And she'd seen Hermann's shoulders inching down, too. He'd even gotten his voice back, even if it was through screeching at some idiotic Water Tribe peasant.

And now it was all ruined.

Karla didn't even bother to struggle when the Dai Li came to drag her down their endless, stifling, airless hallways to a room with a high-backed stone chair and a lantern on a circular track. What was the point anymore? Even if they escaped the Dai Li, they would have to leave Ba Sing Se and attempt to stay out of the way of the rest of the Fire Nation, which was far more easily said than done. And even if they managed that, they'd still be hiding for the rest of their lives, trapped in layers upon layers of falsehoods to try to keep themselves safe. They'd suffer anyway. Might as well make the suffering last for as little time as possible.

\---

**Year 4346**

Mako paced along the walls of her cell, fury keeping her from sitting still.

She'd heard a couple more slams of doors in the time she'd been here. She didn't know how long it had been. Probably less than a day; she was starting to get hungry, but it wasn't that bad yet.

The door to her tiny metal box opened, and two Dai Li agents attempted to grab her by the arms so they could drag her to wherever they were going to drag her.

Just as it had years ago, in that tiny town that they'd had to leave so quickly, Mako's anger exploded into glowing white.

\---

**Year 4346**

A huge _boom_ echoed through the hallways, startling Newt out of his distant contemplation of the floor of his cell. He got to his feet; staying sitting down while explosions happened was probably a good way to end up squashed under a really big rock.

Another _boom,_ then a third, and yelling, panicked voices, somewhere close by but moving away fast. The Dai Li were scared of whatever had made those sounds, and that really wasn't a good sign. The Dai Li were the scariest thing in the city, apart from spirits, so if they were scared of something, it was probably a spirit, and a really dangerous one, too.

Whatever was going on, the Dai Li were distracted, so it was a perfect opportunity to try to get the hell out of this box. He'd been searched for weapons, but a tiny pouch hidden under the bandages that kept his chest flat had escaped their notice.

Thanking La that he'd been feeling paranoid that morning, Newt fished the tiny pouch out. He pried the cork from its opening, then beckoned the water inside out and around his hands. It wasn't very much - only barely a handful - but it was enough to be encouraged into the lock, shaped carefully around the tumblers, and twisted just so. The lock clicked, the door cracked open, and the noise from outside got noticeably louder.

He should probably try to find the others and help them get out. They were practically family by now; it wouldn't be right to leave them behind. The problem was, he had no idea how to even start looking for them.

Oh. Right. Duh. They'd all been shoved into cells in the same hallway. Newt had been pretty distracted while the shoving had been going on, but not _that_ distracted.

Newt poked his head carefully into the hallway, hoping there weren't any stray Dai Li standing around his cell door and also hoping that whatever the spirit mess was, it was really far away from him. He'd already gotten mixed up in one spirit mess, and that dripping sound still haunted his nightmares. He wasn't about to deliberately give himself more nightmares. That would be stupid.

"Freeze me solid," he breathed, ducking back into his cell. Well. So much for avoiding the spirit mess; it was right outside his door.

There was a harsh wind whipping around the hallway, centering on a small figure. Newt couldn't make out any details; the dust from the hallway obscured everything except that the figure was probably humanoid.

Cursing under his breath, Newt ducked out again and did his water lock-pick trick on all the doors he could get to, figuring that even if the people inside weren't his family, weren't the ones he was looking for, they probably didn't deserve to be here any more than he did, especially right in the middle of a spirit meltdown.

The doors creaked open one after another. Newt checked the cells behind them carefully. The first one held some random person who took off running without even thanking Newt. Rude. The second one held Raleigh.

"Let's get out of here, something's happening," Raleigh said, taking Newt's elbow.

"Really? Amazing. Hadn't noticed," Newt said viciously, yanking his arm out of Raleigh's hand.

"Let's just focus on getting everybody out," said Raleigh.

Newt wanted to punch him. Instead of punching him, Newt briefly - but vividly - imagined shredding Raleigh from the inside out. Human bodies were about two-thirds water, according to Master Lightcap.

The next few doors led to empty cells. The one after those held Hermann, who was sitting up, but didn't appear to be moving or reacting to the disaster happening outside.

Newt rushed over to him, checking his pulse frantically, and let go of a breath he hadn't known he was holding when he felt Hermann's heart beat.

"C'mon, Hermann, we have to move," Newt said, shaking Hermann's shoulder. There wasn't a response. Hermann's eyes were open, he was breathing and blinking, but he wasn't responding.

Newt wrapped his palmful of water around his hands and pressed them to Hermann's forehead and chest, trying to calm his own breathing and heartbeat so he could try to figure out what was wrong.

Hermann's spirit felt _awful,_ like all its normal edges and grooves had been coated in something thick and slimy and clinging. Shuddering quietly, Newt pulled back and yanked Hermann to his feet. There wasn't time to try to heal him right now; they had to get out of here before the whole place fell down on top of them. Hermann went along with the yanking, and seemed inclined to follow directions, but his gaze was still blank and uncomprehending.

There were a few more empty cells, a few more cells with people Newt didn't know, and cells containing Chuck and Karla, both of whom had the same clinging awfulness on their spirits.

"Where's Mako?" Raleigh asked. The five of them were huddled in what had been Chuck's cell, hiding from the wind still roaring around outside.

"We'll find her," Newt snapped. He was scared and tired and just really fed up with Raleigh right now.

"No, _I'll_ find her," said Raleigh. "Stay here." He stormed out.

"Fine," Newt muttered. "Good riddance." He wrapped water around his hands again so he could at least try to see how he might start getting that awfulness off his family's spirits. If he was going to be stuck in a metal box while Raleigh went off into the middle of a spirit mess by himself, he might as well use the time productively.

\---

**Year 4346**

"Mako? Mako!" Raleigh called. He wasn't sure what he was hoping to do, but he had a creeping feeling about the furious, glowing figure floating a foot or so off the ground at the far end of the hallway. When Mako had told him she was the Avatar, he'd had a hard time believing it even with evidence of her abilities right before his eyes. Now, with the wind tugging at his clothes, he could believe it, and he was scared like he hadn't been since Yancy had told him to run and not look back.

Heart pounding in his throat, he approached the glowing figure. Up close, it was easy to recognize Mako's hair whipping around her face, although the fury on her expression and her glowing eyes were completely alien. "Mako, listen to me! It's okay! They're all gone now! Please come back!"

Mako turned in his direction. She raised her hand, as if to strike him. It was clear she didn't recognize him.

"Mako, please, come back!" Raleigh reached out and managed to grab onto her hand, twining their fingers together. A shock ran through him at the touch, but he just held on harder and tried to tug her close. "It's okay! It's going to be okay! We found everybody else, they're all safe, and it's going to be okay! We're going to get out of here!"

Slowly, the wind started to die down. The glow faded from Mako's eyes.

"Raleigh?" she whispered, then passed out. He only just managed to catch her before she hit the floor.

 


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahahahahahaha oh man this is late and i am sorry

**Year 4346**

Newt wasn't sure how they'd all managed to get out, with three of them barely conscious, one of them unconscious, and neither of the two conscious ones an earthbender, but they'd done it. They were currently holed up in a collection of trees about ten minutes' slow shuffle from where they'd surfaced, Raleigh was fussing over Mako, and none of them had any idea what to do next.

At least they'd found water - a little stream running through the trees. Newt had picked up as much of it as he could bend and settled down next to Chuck, Hermann, and Karla, who were still staring blankly into space, to see if he could get that gross slimy stuff off their spirits and minds.

So far, it was working. It was slow going, especially because he had to be really careful not to brush the spirit under the goo too much, but it was working.

"We have to do something," Raleigh was muttering.

"I _am_ doing something," Newt said, far more calmly than he might have if his attention wasn't mostly on washing the gross slimy stuff off Hermann's spirit. "Are you a healer? No? Shut up and let me do my job."

"You're just an apprentice," said Raleigh.

"Fight me, dirt-brain," said Newt. "Except, like, later, 'cause I'm a little busy right now. If you're bored, go, like, sit quietly by yourself for a while. Or whatever. Honestly I don't care what you do, as long as it doesn't bring the Dai Li back down on our heads."

Newt wanted to hurt something. Ideally, that something would be Dai Li-shaped, but, despite appearances to the contrary, Newt could be practical every so often. He didn't want to run into the Dai Li ever again.

They would probably have to leave Ba Sing Se. The thought hurt; Newt had really started to settle in here, and Master Lightcap was family by now. Sure, she had the rest of the waterbenders in the city, and he (maybe) had Hermann and Karla and Chuck and Mako and Raleigh, but Newt hoped he wasn't kidding himself to think that he and Master Lightcap were pretty close. It would really, really suck to leave.

In a way, it would be even worse than leaving the North Pole had been. Uncle Ilia had tried really hard, but he and Newt hadn't ever quite gotten along. Newt had tried really hard too, but making friends had never really happened. He was too loud, too awkward, and he didn't fit into any of the pre-established groups. He was an outsider, and people didn't hesitate to let him know that. In Ba Sing Se, he'd actually managed to make friends and find something close to a proper family. And now he was going to have to leave it behind.

Newt took a deep breath and wiped his eyes on his shoulder. He had work to do, and moping wouldn't help with that. He could mope later, once all of them were well and safe and far away from Ba Sing Se.

\---

**Year 4346**

Carefully, Mako opened her eyes. She wasn't underground; she could feel the sunlight on her face and the earth under her body. Large green blurs waved vaguely in her vision. After a while, she figured out that those were probably trees.

What had happened? She remembered being arrested and taken away by the Dai Li, and then sitting in a cell for a while, and then whiting out with rage. How had she gotten from whiting out underground to lying here, exhausted, aboveground?

Thinking felt like pushing through molasses.

A goldish blur appeared between her and the trees. "Mako! You're awake! Are you okay?"

"Nngh," Mako said eloquently. She blinked a few times and her vision focused properly. Ah. That was Raleigh. "I'm fine, Raleigh. Just tired."

"That doesn't surprise me," said Raleigh. "What you did was so cool, how you just, like, blew away all those Dai Li, and your eyes were glowing!"

"Ugh," said Mako. She was on a roll. "How'd we get out here?"

"I carried you," said Raleigh , ignoring the fact that that answered nothing .

"Is everyone else okay?" asked Mako.

"Yeah," said Raleigh. "Or they will be. Newt's trying to see if he can fix what happened."

Mako sat up fast - too fast. Her forehead collided with Raleigh's, and the bump combined with the sudden dizziness from the abrupt change in position almost sent her back down again. She gritted her teeth and propped herself up, determined to see what was going wrong this time.

"Hey, Mako, Mako, calm down," said Raleigh. He was waving his hands and had sat back on his heels. There was a red spot on his forehead. "All three of them are alive. They're not physically injured."

Mako narrowed her eyes.

"The Dai Li did something to their minds," Raleigh said, all in a rush, like it would make the words less real if he said them really fast. "Newt described it like, uh, a sort of goo? And he's working on getting it off. Apparently this was something he was trained for , which is kinda weird, but waterbenders, you know? They're all kinda weird. But, uh, yeah, it's gonna be okay, and you look like you're gonna fall down so you should probably lie back down again - "

"I'm fine, Raleigh," said Mako. "You can stop being a mother turtle-duck now."

"Okay," said Raleigh. He still looked worried, but at least he'd stopped babbling.

Mako ruffled his hair , then scooted closer so she could lean on him . Now that she paid attention, she could hear the sounds of Newt muttering and water splashing, not far off. "Do we have a plan?" she asked.

"We'll all talk about it together," said Raleigh. "Don't worry about it. It's gonna be fine, Mako." He put his arm around her.

Mako rolled her eyes, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she enjoyed the warmth of having another person close by.

\---

**Year 4346**

Mako was okay, and she and Raleigh were cuddling and murmuring like adorable little lovebirds, so Newt could stop worrying about them. Not that he'd been worrying before; he didn't care about Raleigh, and Mako could evidently take care of herself.

Newt had managed to get the goo off Hermann's and Karla's spirits, and both of them were sleeping it off. Now, of course, the goo was in the water he'd been using, and he couldn't just dump it on the ground; who knew what it would do to plants, even if it was only made of spirit-stuff - maybe especially if it was made of spirit-stuff. Fire would probably get rid of it - fire could clean just about anything - but Hermann was still asleep, so Newt would deal with it later. It did make working on Chuck slow going, though. Also, Chuck was really stubborn, and his spirit didn't like Newt working so closely. That might have just been a Chuck thing, or it might have been an Earth thing.

Finally, the last of the goo was scrubbed off and safely wrapped in water. Newt sighed in relief. The hard part was over.

"Hey Mako," he called over, "do you think you could shape me a rock bowl? Preferably, like, medium-sized and not something water will go through."

"She's tired," Raleigh snapped at him, holding Mako close against his side.

"Don't speak for me," Mako snapped back. She rolled to her feet and stretched, the only sign of her exhaustion a lingering slowness to her movements. She stepped into stance, shifted her feet, and brought a dish of rock out of the earth. "That good?"

"Yeah, perfect," said Newt. He put the goo-filled water in the bowl. "At some point that needs to be set on fire, but it's not urgent. Just don't touch it and you'll be fine."

Mako yawned and sat back down, settling against Raleigh's side. "All right. When do you think the others will wake up?"

Newt shrugged. "Whenever, I guess? Sleeping is a pretty good way to heal, so, I dunno. The goo's all gone, though. They'll be fine." He yawned too. "Hey, Mako's lion-puppy, you wanna keep watch for a while? I'm tired."

"I'm not a lion-puppy," said Raleigh. He looked kind of like a pygmy puma that had just stuck its face in a limon - super offended in the most hilarious way. "But I guess I can hold down the fort."

Newt refrained from laughing, although it was a challenge, and privately applauded himself for his restraint. He also noted that Raleigh didn't argue that he wasn't Mako's; very sensible of him. "Great. Thanks." He yawned again and flopped over onto his side, letting his exhaustion from the long day and the energy-intensive healing drag him down to sleep.

\---

**Year 4346**

Slowly, Hermann became aware. He kept his eyes closed; there was no way to tell what kind of situation he was in or if he was still in the Dai Li's custody. The air smelled like outside, someplace not next to the ocean or another body of water, and the light coming through his eyelids was dim, barely there. He could hear plants rustling, and his leg was complaining even more loudly than it usually did when he first woke up.

His head felt oddly clear, like the streets of Ba Sing Se just after a rainstorm had washed away all the everyday dust and dirt. He took a few deep breaths, relishing the quiet that even meditating didn't usually get him. Most of the time, his thoughts were so busy with the hundred little worries of living in a big city with only one's sister, and he'd always found clearing his mind hard. He gently nudged the guilt about that particular failing back into the box with all of the rest of the guilt over all his other failings, then slowly opened his eyes and pushed himself up to sitting.

Trees, an odd rock formation, people. People he recognized. He counted each of them off carefully, then let out a quiet sigh of relief when he realized that all of them had gotten out of wherever the Dai Li had taken them to, and there wasn't any visible blood or other injury, so he could only hope that they'd escaped unscathed.

He was the only one awake, but, judging by his senses, it was perhaps half an hour until sunrise, so that wasn't terribly surprising. He would just enjoy the quiet for a while longer.

With a contented sigh, Hermann folded his good leg under the knee of his bad one, rested his hands on his thighs, and breathed slowly and evenly.

\---

**Year 4346**

The rising sun stabbed Newt in the eyes. He groaned and rolled over, trying to escape the light, but it was too late. He was awake now, and his head was yelling at him for using so much energy yesterday. He sat up with a defeated grumble, shading his eyes with his hands and squinting.

Ah. Hermann was awake. He'd managed to start a small fire and was sitting by it. Looked like he was meditating. Wow, boring much. Mako, Raleigh, and Chuck were still out cold, poor kids, and so was Karla.

Newt hauled himself to his feet, scooped up the bandages he used to keep his chest flatter, and shuffled off behind a tree to make himself presentable. Once he felt he was at least a little bit fit to be seen by other people, he plopped down next to Hermann and leaned on his shoulder. Ooh, warm.

"Gmrnng," he mumbled.

"I would appreciate it if you would not invade my personal space so early in the morning," said Hermann.

"Nn," said Newt. How was Hermann so awake? Oh, right, firebender. Rise with the sun and all that stuff. "Fine." He nudged himself back up to sitting upright like a functional person and yawned. "How're you doing after all the stuff that happened yesterday?"

"I am fine," Hermann said stiffly.

Newt squinted suspiciously at him. "Dude, it's okay to be not-fine. I mean, you know me, right, basically unflappable, and I am feeling pretty flapped from the whole being arrested right off the street thing."

"There are many words I could use to describe you, but none of them even remotely resemble 'unflappable'," said Hermann. "Also, we were arrested in Master Tamsin's tea shop, not off the street."

"Wow, fine, be like that," Newt grumbled. He was nowhere near awake enough for this. "Seriously, asking as a healer, how are you feeling? Headache? Mind-fuzziness? Exhaustion? Weird, inexplicable desire to go back to the Dai Li?"

Hermann rolled his eyes. "None of the above. My head feels quite clear, actually."

"Sweet, it worked," said Newt. "By the way, when you're feeling up to it, the water in that bowl of rock over there needs to be set on fire. It's full of all the gunk I pulled out of your and Karla's and Chuck's heads after we got out."

Hermann looked kind of alarmed. Whoops. Newt probably could have phrased that better.

"Uh, I mean, the Dai Li did something weird, but it's okay, I fixed it," Newt added. "Everything's fine! Nothing to worry about at all."

"How reassuring," said Hermann. "What, precisely, did you mean by 'gunk'?"

Newt waved his hand, trying to indicate that it was unimportant. "Just, like, whatever weird stuff the Dai Li did to make you all compliant. It was really creepy, you weren't grumping at all, just sort of sitting there. I promise I didn't mess with anything that wasn't mind-goo, and I didn't go poking around in your head or anything - "

"I was unaware that waterbending could do such a thing," Hermann interrupted coolly. "Clearly our intelligence needs updating. What a fascinating ability."

Newt winced. "It's not all waterbenders, I learned it from a spirit. And, uh, whose intelligence needs updating?"

Hermann froze. "If you will excuse me, I will go set that water on fire now." He gathered his legs under himself and pushed himself up, wobbling on his good leg, resting the foot of the bad one only lightly on the ground. Newt remembered abruptly that Hermann had left his cane in Master Tamsin's shop and there was basically no way they would ever have a chance to retrieve it.

"Do you want help getting over there?" Newt asked.

Hermann actually snarled at him, lips pulled back over his bared teeth like a pygmy puma.

"Or, uh, not, you know what, never mind, forget I asked," said Newt. He drew his knees up to his chest and looked away, trying not to hiss in sympathy every time Hermann's balance wavered on his slow, hopping way over to the rock bowl. He couldn't resist watching Hermann set the water on fire, though. He'd never seen anyone firebend before - well, not the "shoot fire from the hands" kind, just the quiet, invisible, "not getting burned when touching hot things" kind - and he was curious, okay?

Hermann took a slow breath, gathered his hands close to his chest, then shoved them outward, exhaling audibly. Flames burst from his hands and sank into the water. Very quickly, steam rose, the water hissing as it boiled itself away. Hermann wobbled a few times, but managed to keep the fire going until the rock bowl was completely dry and scorched black.

Newt applauded. "Nice! Very impressive."

Hermann turned slowly to glare at him. "I will thank you not to spew such unnecessary, untruthful flattery. There is no need to mock me."

"I'm not mocking you!" Newt protested. "I really thought that was cool."

Hermann rolled his eyes, then made his careful way over to where his sister was still unconscious, easing himself to the ground and stretching his bad leg out in front of him. "Do not speak to me further."

"Well, fine," Newt muttered. He pushed himself to his feet and shuffled off to the stream to - not _sulk,_ he didn't _sulk,_ but he was a little justifiably upset at Hermann being cranky and mean and he wanted to go play with water for a while and not talk to other people. Yeah.

\---

**Year 4346**

Hermann ran a hand slowly and repeatedly through his hair, trying to even out his breathing and settle his energy down.

Something was odd about his bending. It wasn't unsettled, precisely, just not quite right. Usually, his energy felt like embers, hot and present but quiet. Boiling that water away had felt like piling on dry wood and watching the flame leap up, uncontrolled and more than he had been expecting. It was quite alarming. It had taken him long enough to learn how to control his fire when he was first learning how to bend; he had no desire to start from square one again, especially with the renewed risk of hurting people he cared about.

Did this have something to do with whatever the Dai Li had done to his mind? He wasn't sure he wanted to know. The idea that anyone could meddle with your thoughts, your spirit in that way…

It was unnerving, to say the least.

But the Dai Li meddling in his mind didn't explain there being _more_ energy for him to work with. Unless there had been some kind of limiting factor in place, to prevent him from using more energy than he had, and whatever the Dai Li had done had removed it? Or perhaps whatever Newt had done to undo whatever the Dai Li had done had something to do with it – who knew what that waterbending menace could or would recognize as belonging or not belonging in a spirit not of his own nation.

Then there was the way his temper, always close to the surface, had flared up at Newt. Newt was incredibly irritating, and his tendency to turn everything into a joke at others' expense was - it was hurtful, and Hermann hated being laughed at, and he _hated_ Newt, why did he care whether or not Newt laughed at him?

He cared too much. Everyone knew it; his father knew it, his siblings knew it, even Raleigh, with whom he'd barely communicated enough to make their work together functional, knew it. It was humiliating, and Hermann really needed to figure out how to just…turn that caring off. Fire's power came from rage, yes, but not the kind of rage that ended in upset tears and hiding in a corner. That wasn't powerful; that was pathetic.

And now it was like whatever control he'd managed to attain over that caring, that emotion, had just disappeared, washed away by whatever water-witchery Newt had done to him without his knowledge or agreement.

He needed to meditate. He already had this morning, but he'd been interrupted by Newt being his loud and obnoxious self. That was probably all that was making him feel unsettled; he hadn't had sufficient time and quiet to get his thoughts and his energy in order. Everything was probably fine.

After a final ruffle through his hair to return it to something resembling order, Hermann placed his hands back in his lap, straightened his shoulders, closed his eyes, and breathed.

Everything was fine.

 


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this isn't an actual chapter, sorry. it's gotten to the point where writing this story is more of a chore than it is enjoyable, and i'm pretty sure it's started seriously dragging, so i've just summarized the rest of my plan for it and that's what this is.

_From this point, the intent was that the children would leave Ba Sing Se and go to Stacker and Herc's house to hide for a while. Along the way, there are a lot of adventures, Newt and Hermann finally kiss on the face, and there's a lot of trading back and forth of bending teaching (mostly Hermann trying to teach Chuck and Mako firebending and Newt trying to teach Mako waterbending)._

_They all stay with Stacker and Herc for a while in the little Earth Kingdom village they live in, being idyllic and small-town and stuff. Everybody gets a chance to learn about cool things, and they find out about the whole Sozin's Comet thing (that is, that the Fire Lord intends to attack the Earth Kingdom on the day of the comet) and the existence of the eclipse and stuff (which they didn't know about previously)._

_For a bit it goes similarly to ATLA; they all go attack the Caldera on the day of the eclipse, nobody's there, about half of them get captured. Mako and a few of the others get away and end up staying with Mako's family in the Fire Nation, where they plan their daring rescue/secondary attack._

_The daring rescue/secondary attack goes perfectly. Lars and Dietrich both die, which leaves Hermann as heir to the throne. He's reluctant, but takes the job. The war ends, balance returns, rainbows and sparkles, hooray._

 


End file.
